Strong second half showing sees Muskerry into Premier SHC Divisional/Colleges semis
A strong second half display saw Muskerry advance to the Divisional/Colleges seeded section of the Co-Op SuperStores Cork Premier SHC at the expense of Carbery at Ovens on Tuesday evening.
Diarmuid Kirwan's team will now meet UCC in the last four of the seeded section.
There were only three points in it at half-time, with the eventual winners having their noses in front before they pushed on after the break in what was an impressive team performance in the second period.
In a sluggish start, Muskerry did start positively with a goal after just 30 seconds when David Casey finished beautifully to the back of the net following a driving run.
The sides traded early points in a game dominated by poor shooting. Liam Hourihane hit a great point for Carbery as they trailed by two points after eight minutes but a Shane Tarrant effort did settle Muskerry after a nervy start.
A pair of Caolan O'Donovan points, one from a free, left Carbery a point adrift, but they were too reliant on him to get scores throughout.
Muskerry put together three unanswered white flags with Mark O'Connell's effort the pick of the scores, 1-5 to 0-4 after 20 minutes.
Carbery then scored three points on the trot of their own with O'Donovan slotting over two frees and a Shane Crowley effort.
Muskerry did get the last two scores of the half through Adam Dinan and Tarrant, 1-7 to 0-7 at half-time.
The Mid-Cork division were beginning to assert their dominance as they slotted over four of the first five points of the new half.
Jack Devine of Muskerry and Michael O'Driscoll of Carbery do battle. Picture: Jim Coughlan
O'Donovan was excellent for Carbery, very accurate from frees, as he landed another placed ball, 1-11 to 0-9 with 20 minutes remaining.
Muskerry though were playing all the hurling as they were starting to show their quality. They hit two of the next three white flags before scoring two goals in the space of 50 seconds to put the game to bed.
Bradley and Casey scoring the goals, with the first one eye catching after James Lane gave a great ball to the Aghabullogue marksman, 3-13 to 0-10 after 46 minutes.
To Carbery's credit, they kept going right to the end as the players represented their clubs and division proudly. They landed five of the last eight points as they finished the game strongly even if the encounter had long slipped away from them.
Paudie Crowley and Ciarán Dullea with two excellent scores for the West Cork outfit. It is the end of the road for them this year though as Muskerry march on.
Scorers for Muskerry: M Bradley 1-7 (0-5 f), D Casey 2-1, S Tarrant 0-4, A Dinan 0-2, M O'Connell, J Foley 0-1 each.
Scorers for Carbery: C O'Donovan 0-8 (0-7 f), L Hourihane, C Cronin, J Lucey, S Crowley, C Dullea, P Crowley, Donncha Collins 0-1 each.
MUSKERRY: C Sheehan (Éire Óg); P O'Sullivan (Aghabullogue), C Timmons (Aghabullogue), L Hennigan (Kilmichael); M Lucey (Donoughmore), C McGoldrick (Éire Óg), O O'Driscoll (Cloughduv); S Tarrant (Aghabullogue), M O'Connell (Dripsey); J Devine (Cloughduv), J Foley (Aghabullogue), D Casey (Éire Óg); M Bradley (Aghabullogue), J Lane (Aghabullogue), A Dinan (Donoughmore).
Subs: B Hurley (Éire Óg) for J Devine (36), B Horgan (Kilmichael) for M Lucey (52), M O'Sullivan (Dripsey) for J Foley (54), C Sexton (Donoughmore) for C Sheehan (57).
CARBERY: Micheál O'Driscoll (Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas); D Curtin (St Mary's), S O'Riordan (Barryroe), R Lucey (Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas); R Scanlon (St Mary's), C O'Sullivan (Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas), C O'Donovan (Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas); L Hourihane (St Colum's), S Crowley (Randal Óg); J Lucey (Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas), N O'Driscoll (St Oliver Plunkett's), Donncha Collins (Randal Óg); P O'Sullivan (Randal Óg), P Crowley (Dohenys), Michael O'Driscoll (St Mary's).
Subs: C Cronin (Dohenys) for P O'Sullivan (23, inj), Declan Collins (Dohenys) for D Curtin (h-t), C O'Neill (Randal Óg) for N O'Driscoll (40), C Dullea (St Oliver Plunkett's) for S Crowley (48).
Referee: Kevin O'Sullivan (Valley Rovers).
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