Seamus Harnedy praised Imokilly's leaders after they retained the Sean Og Murphy Cup with a decisive victory over Midleton.

The team captain scored 1-6, while former county player Paudie O'Sullivan helped himself to 2-1 as the East Cork divisional side emulated the 1997-'98 team.

“The scoreline flattered us today in that Midleton were there with 20 minutes to go, but the lads showed great character. When we needed the scores, Bill Cooper, Will Leahy, Paudie (O’Sullivan), obviously, the boys we needed to stand up and show leadership, did so. And that was enough to get us over the line,” Harnedy told the Irish Examiner.

“This goes back to the point of (selectors) Derek Barrett and Jimmy Smiddy having the bragging rights in our set-up, that they did back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998.

“We wanted to emulate that, but we got here day by day. Last year is gone and we wanted to show everyone it wasn’t a once-off.

“We had our scares during the year. We knew we had to up it, after the Newecestown game, because we got out of jail that day. We got a real fright in the quarter-final (against Newcestown); we were lucky to get over that day.

“We knew we had to up it incrementally since then and we have, thank God. Fellas that were tired after a long season got a breather, got themselves back together, got themselves in the right condition and attitude to play these big games”.

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