We had an excellent win over Fermoy last Sunday in the quarter final of this year’s junior A hurling championship. The game was played at a very well prepared Mitchelstown venue and from the off we were reminded that Fermoy were going to be a lively outfit when in the first minute they cut through our defence and scored a very good goal.

This was a bit of a set back but after this our lads settled down and got back in the game with some very well taken points over the next 15 minutes. Jamie Sheedy was first to score from a placed ball and minutes later Paul Burke got a great pass from Richard Burke and Paul scored from a tight angle. The next two points came from the impressive O’Reilly brother’s Colman and Brian and these scores put us into the lead for the first time.

At this stage our back line had really tightened up with Eoin McHugh, Alan Sheedy and Eoin O’Regan well on top and playing some impressive hurling. Fermoy got back level again with a long range effort but from here to half time we really upped the ante and opened up a solid lead. We lost wing back Haulie Burke to injury after twenty minutes and he along with Brian Sheedy and Sean Lynch had been very impressive in the half back line.

We had the next four points with Jamie adding two more to his tally and we then had two outstanding scores from Darren Roche and Jonathan Dennehy with both players playing very well throughout the game. Fermoy got a point back from a free just before the break but we went in at half time in a good position leading 0-9 to 1-2.

Fermoy started the second half on the front foot and had a few good chances to close the gap but with good pressure from our back line thankfully they were off target and were unable to close the gap. With Colman O’Reilly and his midfield partner Rob McHugh dominating midfield and putting in a tremendous amount of work we were able to weather the early Fermoy storm and Jamie Sheedy and Brian O’Reilly had two quick fire points to stretch our lead to six points and give us a little cushion.

Fermoy kept up the pressure with some good fast  hurling but thankfully in Declan Fitzgibbon we have a very commanding figure in goals and time and time again throughout the game Declan was very confident under the high ball and with ball in hand he always found a team mate to set up many of our attacks. Jamie had another pointed free but over the next few minutes Fermoy got in for 1-1 to bring them right back in the game and only for them being off target with their point taking the last 15 minutes could have been a lot different.

Jerome Fitzgerald who had earlier replaced Haulie Burke had to be replaced by his brother Padraig because of injury and hopefully Haulie and Jerome will be fighting fit for the semifinal in a few weeks. Fermoy reduced our lead again with a pointed free and now it was game on with only two points between the teams with 12 minutes left. Thankfully Eoin McHugh, Sean Lynch, Rob McHugh and Brian Sheedy thundered into the game  and got control of the Fermoy danger men and from here to the finish we scored some very well taken goals and points.

Our first goal came after some excellent pressure on the Fermoy defence from Jonathan Dennehy and Richard Burke and when the keeper failed to clear his lines Brian O’Reilly was on hand to finish to the net. We followed this up with points from Jamie Sheedy, Colman O’Reilly and Brian O’Reilly to really put us on the road to victory and minutes later after Fermoy had got a point back Darren Roche got in for our second goal and it topped off a tremendous performance by Darren.

At this stage with the clock ticking over the 60 minute mark we got the last score from a free and Brian O’Reilly duly obliged and slotted over to give us a emphatic 12 point win that seemed unlikely with a quarter of the game to go. Well done to the whole squad of players and management team who over the last number of weeks have really put a lot of hard work into getting ready for this game which now sees us in a championship semifinal and this will be another stepping stone for this hard working group. We now have the daunting task of facing last year’s champions Glanworth in the semifinal and this should be a very entertaining game when it’s played in the coming weeks. Hopefully all injuries will be healed by then with Jerome Fitzgerald, Haulie Burke and James Hayes all nursing setbacks in the last week.

Team: Declan Fitzgibbon, Alan Sheedy, Eoin McHugh, Eoin O’Sean Lynch, Brian Sheedy, Sean Lynch, Haulie Burke, Colman O’Reilly(0-3), Rob McHugh, JamieSheedy(0-7 0-4f), Brian O’Reilly(1-5), Darren Roche(1-1), Paul Burke(0-1), Richard Burke,  Jonathan Dennehy(0-1) Subs: Jerome Fitzgerald for Haulie Burke, Kenneth Barry for Paul Burke, Padraig Fitzgerald for Jerome Fitzgerald, Mick O’Donovan, Brian O’Regan, Paul Palmer, Brendan Hayes, Dave Twomey, Shaun Cronin, Eamon Fitzgerald, Vincent Burke.