Imokilly in cruise control as they sweep Avondhu aside in Divisions/Colleges HC semi-final

Imokilly 2-32 

Avondhu 1-17 

At no point was it an uncomfortable affair for Imokilly, who strolled to victory against Avondhu in the Co-Op Superstores Cork PSHC Divisions/Colleges section semi-final at Church Road on Saturday evening.

It was routine. Far too routine. Fifteen first half attempts yielded 13 points, while Avondhu had eight wides and only two different scorers.

In typical candystripe fashion, Denis Ring’s charges scored the first five points in as many minutes without an attempt at the other end. That trend continued for the rest of the first half, and into the latter period.

Five of the first six scores. Twelve clear with 25 minutes to go. And another 2-14 still to come from Imokilly.

Avondhu did improve, though they couldn’t fare much worse. Solely due to the unrelenting efforts of Stephen Condon and James Keating.

Those two and Brian Lombard got on the scoresheet to leave it 1-23 to 0-10 at the end of the third quarter, while Condon and Keating added two more to leave 14 points between the teams with 15 to play.

But Imokilly chipped away. They kept chipping away. Point after point after point.

Brian Lawton, Imokilly, gets away from Luke Carey, Avondhu. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

Mike Kelly – who was on fire in the second half – responded to Condon and Keating’s efforts with one of his six scores from play.

Avondhu had a couple of half chances at goal. Both from Condon. The first ended prematurely, Condon denied advantage just as he had broken through on goal, with referee Simon Stokes calling it back for the free.

He slipped through again 10 minutes later, this time denied smartly by Ciarán O’Brien, who blocked his effort.

Avondhu did eventually get that breakthrough, after 61 minutes. A clever one-two between Condon and Keating saw the latter rifle a beauty into the top corner. But that consolation was mercilessly wiped out, as Joe Stack set up substitute Oisin Fitzgerald for a second Imokilly major in the 64th minute.

Kelly and Jack Leahy had been scoring for fun up until additional time – leaving Imokilly 1-31 to 0-16 clear before Keating hit the net.

One of Imokilly’s second half scores came from a placed ball, a 65 from Kelly. By contrast, Avondhu only got two points from play in the first half with the breeze.

It was a woeful opening period for the north Cork side.

Cillian O’Callaghan, Imokilly, holds onto the sliothar despite the pressure from Eoin Carey, Avondhu. Picture: Jim Coughlan.

They couldn’t hold onto any of their restarts, and when they did, any attempts at picking out a forward up front were fruitless.

Their distribution was subpar, and they scrapped the use of Liam Cronin as a sweeper after 19 minutes. A substitution followed four minutes after.

By that stage Imokilly were 0-12 to 0-4 in front. They were eight ahead still at the break.

Within three minutes of the resumption Imokilly registered four white flags from four different men. The green flag finally came for the east Cork outfit after 42 minutes, a gift from Avondhu.

Cronin had done well to win possession and he handpassed it short to goalkeeper Daniel O’Connell, but his stick pass was straight to Diarmuid Healy, who unleashed a low strike into the gaping net.

At that stage it was 1-21 to 0-9. All too easy for the reigning county champions.

Scorers for Imokilly: J Leahy 0-9 (0-4 f), M Kelly 0-7 (0-1 65), D Healy 1-1, O Fitzgerald 1-0, B Lawton 0-3, S Hegarty, J Stack, W Leahy, C O’Callaghan, J Cronin 0-2 each, C Cahill, C Joyce 0-1 each.

Scorers for Avondhu: S Condon 0-8 (0-3 f), C O’Brien 0-5 (0-3 f), J Keating 1-2, B Lombard, E Carey 0-1 each.

IMOKILLY: E Davis (St Catherine’s); J McCarthy (Dungourney), T Wilk (Cobh), C O’Brien (St Ita’s); C Joyce (Castlemartyr), M Russell (Aghada), J Cronin (Lisgoold); S Hegarty (Dungourney), C O’Callaghan (Dungourney); W Leahy (Aghada), D Healy (Lisgoold), B Lawton (Castlemartyr) (c); M Kelly (Castlemartyr), J Stack (Castlemartyr), J Leahy (Dungourney).

Subs: C Cahill (Cloyne) for W Leahy (46), M Hegarty (Lisgoold) for Lawton (49), A Sherlock (Cloyne) for McCarthy (56), O Fitzgerald (St Catherine’s) for J Leahy (57), J Griffin (Dungourney) for Cronin (58).

AVONDHU: D O’Connell (Dromina); S Killeen (Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels), J Keating (Kildorrery), L Carey (Kilworth); E Buckley (Ballyhooly), B Curtin (Kilshannig), D O’Reilly (Ballyhooly); J O’Sullivan (Ballygiblin), E Carey (Kilworth); J Murphy (Dromina), C O’Brien (Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels), L Óg Hegarty (Kilworth); J Magnier (Killavullen), S Condon (Harbour Rovers), L Cronin (Killavullen) (c).

Subs: J Sheehan (Kilworth) for O’Reilly (23), O O’Callaghan (Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels) for Hegarty, L Keating (Kildorrery) for Magnier (both HT), B Lombard (Ballyhooly) for Murphy (34).

Referee: S Stokes (Tullylease)