Fermoy push on for victory

Inniscarra.

At the other end, however, Inniscarra struggled to make headway until Colm Casey, switched from corner-forward to the ‘40, thundered into the picture, setting up scores for Kieran Rice and wing back Paul Farmer before finding the target himself to make it 0-6 apiece at the interval.

It prompted Fermoy to move Brian O’Sullivan from the right wing to centre back nearing half time - a decision that certainly paid dividends in the second half.

Not only did O’Sullivan minimise Casey’s influence, Darragh O’Carroll really blossomed on going to wing back, as the Fermoy defence, in which Jeff Daly hardly put a foot astray at the edge of the square over the hour, eventually came up with most of the answers.

Still, Fermoy’s character was put to the test after Inniscarra, with Aidan O’Mahony, from a free and Dan O’Connell on target, hit the ground running on the resumption.

Up stepped Liam Coleman to steady the Fermoy ship with an outrageous point from out near the left touchline in the 33rd minute, and he chipped in with another fine score from play before creating the opening that allowed Padraig De Roiste to nudge them ahead, 0-10 to 0-9, nine minutes later.

A converted free by Aidan O’Mahony quickly brought Inniscarra back on terms, but Fermoy, with their defence going from strength to strength, gradually tightened the screw after that

In fairness, Inniscarra never gave up the fight, and they were well in contention, trailing by 0-14 to 0-12, after substitute David O’Keeffe pointed, following good work by Colm Casey, in the 54th minute.

They were a little hard done by three minutes later, however, after Ger Burke was harshly penalised for a hand-pass, enabling Liam Coleman to ease Fermoy’s anxiety before Martin Brennan whipped over what effectively amounted to the insurance score in stoppage time.

The result has earned Fermoy a place in the last four against Cloyne, who came out on top when the sides clashed in Round 2A two months ago.