Our hurler’s year came to a conclusion in Carrigtwohill last Friday night when we lost our playoff game to Carrigaline. This result has no real significance for this year. It leaves us in the bottom 2 positions from this year’s championship, and the current rules state that if that happens two years in a row to a club, then they are relegated. Premier Intermediate is a very competitive and evenly balanced competition. That one of last year’s bottom two, lost this year’s County final by a single point is proof of that. So nothing to get discouraged about from Aghada’s point of view with everybody fully realising that next year can be a completely different story.

Last Friday’s game never really burst into life, although at times both sides put some nice moves together, but this good play was never sustained for long periods. The 1st half was a very even affair. 6 points apiece after 20 minutes, 4 from play and 2 frees by both teams. Danny Creedon started very well for Aghada and had 2 of these scores, Will Leahy had 2 frees and a fine score from play, with Cian Fleming getting Aghada’s other point from this period. Next however the South East outfit hit a real purple patch, hitting 4 points in as many minutes. Aghada need to stop the rot and did so, mainly through good play from Ronan Kennedy. First the roving corner forward was fouled and Will pointed the free. Kennedy followed up with a nice point from play after being put through by Fleming. And then hit his second from play on the stroke of halftime. In between these scores Will pointed another free from out on the sideline. This point stood at the time, but came down from the scoreboard during the halftime interval!? So at the break it was 9 points apiece.

After exchanging points with Stevie Keeffe on the restart, Carrigaline struck for the 1st major. A super catch from their full forward, who then buried it to the Aghada net. Two more points followed to open up a 5 point lead. Aghada need to rally again, and to their credit, they did just that. Good play from Pearse O’Neill who combined with Leahy to send Fleming racing in on goal, and the Imokilly forward rifled and unstoppable shot to the roof of the net. Danny Creedon had his 3rd from play a few minutes later, and it was a two point game again. That was as good as it got for Aghada however. From here to the end, Carrigaline were the better team. They hit 2 ‘65’s on the 52nd and 53rd minutes, and this 4 point lead stayed intact for the rest of the contest. Aghada did create a good goal chance on 57 minutes after a super catch from Pearse O’Neill, but on this occasion, Will couldn’t finish the move. The resulting 65’ was also squandered and the game petered out to a tame conclusion.

Aghada Team and Scorers – Trevor O’Keeffe, Tim Hartnett, Michael Russell, David Rice, Stephen O’Keeffe, Marcus Leahy, Jordan Tynan, Kalen O’Donoghue, Jack McDonald, Danny Creedon (0-3), Will Leahy (0-4,3f), Kevin O’Hanlon, Cian Fleming (1-1), Pearse O’Neill, Ronan Kennedy (0-2). Subs Used Aaron Berry