Thursday evening as the Premier intermediate hurlers travelled to Inniscarra, our Minors made their way to the UCC Mardyke Arena for the Quarter final clash with Aghbullogue for a scheduled 8pm throw-in. Fermoy were unable to secure semi-final position against Carrigtwohill but would get one more game under their belt before heading into the business end of the championship. The Mardyke was buzzing with the clash of Ballincollig and St. Finbarrs before the game, which ended up going into extra time, delaying our match. The lads got a good look at the field and to be fair to UCC it was looking perfect.  Warm up done and ready to go, the game got underway. Aghbullogue came out strong and hard, hitting everything that moved, they even pointed twice before Fermoy found their feet. Fermoy had reacted all season well to slow starts and today was no different. David O’Callaghan found himself goal bound, which he converted and not for the first time in the half. Points from Adam Creed and David Larnder brought the game in our favour. All within the opening 10 minutes it was a very closing battle for the most, Fermoy and Aghbullogue traded points for up until the 25th minute. With the game being so close, tensions ran high and when Jeff Ennis put his body on the line, Aghbullogue acted late and a dirty stroke after the ball lead to a bit of a melee. This seemed to be the lighting of the fire for Fermoy when they would take the last 5 minutes of the half by storm. 2 points converted and O’Callaghan would pop up again to blast past the keeper, seconds before the half was up, and sealed with a further point through Creed. Signs of how they could turn it on when the going got tough. The teams went in 2-10 to 0-8 at the half. With only two points conceded from play in the whole half, it didn’t reflect on how well the backs were playing, leading by example in Ryan Sargent, Ennis and Luke Aherne in the other corner. David O’Callaghan and Adam Creed looked dangerous every time they were in possession with Shane O’Keeffe pointing the placed balls when called upon.

Well in the lead, the lads had to keep cool and finish out the game and be sure to get out the other side and in the opening 5 minutes of the second half picked up where they left off. 3 fast points were answered by a converted free from Aghbullogue and with their free-takers confidence up he scored 2 more points but the game began to fizzle out. Fresh legs injected a bit of pace to the game and when Dale Dawson made way for Adam Ronan, Adam made his mark on the game straight away by catching a puck out of his own and pointing on the run. David Lardner had a great score, almost a carbon copies of Adam Ronan’s but on the opposite side. Lardner rose highest, turned and split the posts coming into the final 15 minutes. JJ Hickey, Eddie Joyce and David Mulcahy all came into the game to see it out and O’Callaghan, Collins and Ennis, all with outstanding performances, took a well-earned break. Sean McCarthy, James Molloy and Nathan Collins put in great work and were steadying the ship every time it got rocky. Jack Waters and Sargent swapped places and in the final few minutes, Shane O’Keeffe hit the net to bring the scoreline to 3-15 to 0-11. With the win secured the ref blew with the final score of 3-16 to 0-12. The lads needed to dig out a game and any time Aghbullogue got going Fermoy put the pressure back on. The Minors will now face Fr. O’Neills in the Semi-final on the 6th of September and will have time to get ready in the coming weeks. The team lined out as following; R Sargent, J Ennis, R Sargent, L Aherne, James Molloy, J Scannell, Sean McCarthy, Nathan Collins, Greg Lardner, Adam Creed, Colm Hurley, Dale Dawson, David O’Callaghan, David Lardner and Shane O’Keeffe (Capt). Subs used; JJ Hickey, Eddie Joyce, David Mulcahy, Jack Waters and Adam Ronan.