JB Hurling Championship – Aghada 1-17 v Erins Own 2-14: Cobh 22/8/2020.

Defence of the crown we won last year commenced last Saturday when we played out a deserved draw against Erins Own in Cobh. Definitely mixed emotions on this one. In a very good position down by 4 at half time with a strong wind behind us for the second half, things took a turn for the worst when we were reduced to 14 men after just 9 minutes of the second period. Then we probably thought we had the victory as we led by 2 points as the clocked ticked into injury time only for Erins Own to billow our net and snatch a one point lead. So in the end we were glad when Ger Melvin jinked and swivelled like a young fella before calmly sending over the equaliser with the last puck of the game.

Aided by the wind Erins Own were the dominant team in the 1st half, but poor shooting throughout the half left them down. Aghada had standout performances from Mark Healy at centre back and Darragh Ryan at centre forward for this half. Ryan finished the half with 1-2. His goal came from a free after he was grounded himself, but picked himself up quickly and took a fast free which caught the Erins Own defence off guard. Credit too to Alan Creedon who forced the turnover which led to the goal chance. Ger Lynch and Kyle O’Shea hit two fine points also in this half, where our full backline of Aaron Butler, Kane Looney and the Bull were defending manfully. Unfortunately the caherlag outfit responded very quickly to the Aghada goal, with a major of their own which was scrambled home rather softly. At half time it was 1-8 v 1-4 to Erins Own. Darragh Ryan was excellent from placed balls and he hit two more against 2 from play for Erins Own in the minutes leading up to the Aghada red card. Ryan kept the scoreboard ticking over with his placed balls with Aiden O’Connell, Rory O’Connell along with Ryan himself drawing the fouls. Aghada were on top now (and dreading the waterbreak!). Erins Own did hit one from play, but Matt Leahy burst into life with two excellent points in a minute off either wing. At the water break Aghada led -1-13 v 1-12. Recent signing from Killeagh Lar Collins was introduced at this point. At least he didn’t need a new pair of shorts and socks. At 47 years young Lar has now set Pearse O’Neill a real target to try and beat! He was involved in 6 plays after his introduction, yet was down injured 8 times!. But the next 2 Aghada scores came from Ryan frees vitally won by Collins. Rory O’Connell proved himself a thorn in the side of the Erins Own defence right from his halftime introduction and on 26 minutes he raced in for a fine point to push Aghada 3 points clear heading down the final straight. Credit Erins Own, they came back strongly with Melvin’s cousin (older cousin would ya believe!) Peter Kelly driving on the opposition attack. They hit 1-1 to leave us needing that late point from Melvin which Matt Leahy and Rory played a strong part in also.

So in the end, both sides left with a share of the spoils and fair to say both sides left wondering if perhaps they should have come away with the win. Next up is this competition will be Cobh.

Aghada Team and Scorers – Craig Hogan, Aaron Butler, Kane Looney, Richie Condon, Shane Dorney, Mark Healy, Ciaran Galligan, Kyle O’Shea(0-1), Aiden O’Connell, Ray Savage, Darragh Ryan(1-10,1-9f), Rory Slye, Alan Creedon, Ger Lynch(0-1 ), Matt Leahy(0-2). Subs Used Rory O’Connell (0-1), Ger Melvin (0-2,1f), Lar Collins.

Premier Intermediate Competitions

As we head into the final round of matches in both Premier Intermediate hurling and football championship, it really is still all to play for. Literally we could win our last games in both hurling and football and not go through and yet we could lose our last 2 games and go through. Weird I know, but we are no wiser as to the final outcome of the groups as we were before a football was kicked or a sliothar pucked.

Hurling Table

Team P W D L PF PA PD Pts

Carrigaline 2 2 0 0 53 41 12 4

Aghada 2 1 0 1 43 44 -1 2

Youghal 2 1 0 1 42 45 -3 2

Courcey Rvs 2 0 0 2 43 51 -8 0

Football Table

Team P W D L PF PA PD Pts

Newmarket 2 2 0 0 36 20 16 4

Aghada 2 1 0 1 24 23 1 2

C’townbere 2 1 0 1 28 30 -2 2

Na Piarsaigh 2 0 0 2 26 41 -15 0

On this Friday night the 28th, our hurlers face Courcey Rovers in Pairc Ui Rinn at 7:30pm. Whatever about the permutations, there will be only one goal for the squad and that will be to go all out for a win. Best of luck to all involved. Our footballers then play the following Saturday the 5th against Na Piarsaigh at 4pm.

Club Shop

Please note that because of the game on Friday night, our club shop will open this week on Thursday from 6 to 7pm instead of the usual Friday slot.

Condolences

Willie Doyle originally from Wexford was a senior hurler with the Barrs when he came to live in Aghada through his work as a Garda Síochána. After transferring he played a major role in our 1969 junior B East Cork title, before his job took him to Youghal where he again hurled with distinction. Willie passed away yesterday and we offer his family our heartfelt condolences. Condolences also to the Daly family Finure on the passing of Pat recently.