Éire Óg make light of Midleton

ÉIRE Óg made light work of accounting for Midleton in a low-key IHC tie at Pairc Ui Rinn last Friday evening.

Hotly fancied to advance at the expense of the Imokilly club’s second string, the Mid-Cork men wasted little time in laying down a marker, bursting from the traps to build up a nine-point lead, 1-7 to 0-1, during the opening ten minutes.

Leading by 1-14 to 0-7 at halftime, they comfortably held the whip-hand in the third quarter, but some sloppy defending enabled Midleton midfielder Padraig Nagle to poach a goal in the 47th minute, which was quickly followed by a brace of points from ace marksman Cormac Beausang.

It left the East-Cork Magpies just seven points adrift, 1-18 to 1-11, with as many minutes of regulation time remaining, but Éire Óg responded with two converted frees by Kevin Hallissey to rule out any remote possibility of an upset.

The result gave Éire Óg their third win on the trot, and a place in the quarter finals, much to the satisfaction of manager Paul Coakley, who is particularly pleased with their progress in view of their indifferent start to the campaign.

“We lost to Ballinhassig in the opening round, but we’ve been building nicely over the past couple of weeks, and it was a big boost to beat Aghabullogue in a tough Mid-Cork derby last weekend.

“We set the tone from the start tonight, which was very important, and I suppose we always had a bit of an edge over Midleton, so we’re happy enough with the way the game worked out,” he admitted.

In truth, there was never the slightest doubt about the outcome after Éire Óg dominated the early exchanges when precious little passed their half back line, comprising Fionn O’Rourke, Alan O’Mahony and John Kelleher.

Daniel O’Connor and especially Cathal Murphy were well on top too at midfield, while Dermot O’Herlihy, Kevin Hallissey and the lively Eoin O’Shea caught the eye most often in a cohesive attack that carved out the openings virtually at will.

Éire Óg were 1-4 to 0-1 to the good after Hallissey and O’Herlihy combined to set Daniel Goulding up for a goal with six minutes gone, which effectively killed off Midleton’s challenge in it’s infancy.

Such were the limitiations of the opposition, who were best served by Cormac Beausang and Shane Ryan, it was hard to gauge Éire Óg’s potential, and team boss Coakley accepts they will be facing a far stiffer test against Kildorrery next time out.

“Kildorrery beat us last year, so we know it’s going to be tough, but I think we’re developing quite well at the moment, and we’re looking forward to taking them on again,” he said.