It was a game of two contrasting halves as Abbeydorney absolutely pummeled Lixnaw in the opening half with their shooting star Michael O’Leary scoring 3-6 as they led by 4-9 to 0-4 at half time. But the second half introduction of Lixnaw and Kerry senior talisman Shane Conway changed the game with a 1-7 contribution in his first game back from injury since Kerry’s opening AHL win over Meath last February. However, the damage of the first half could not be undone though Lixnaw got to within six points but an Oisin Maunsell 50th minute goal sealed the Abbeydorney win.

Lixnaw drew first blood when Ricky Heffernan pointed a 70m free, however Abbeydorney soon got their opening score though Oisin Maunsell and a minute later Michael O’Leary rose highest to gather a long ball inside and turning on a swivel he dispatched the sliotar to the bottom left corner.

Abbeydorney started to stamp their authority from here and almost netted a second goal when O’Leary fired across the face of goal to David Egan and Egan’s effort was saved well from close range by Martin Stackpoole.

By quarters end the lead was 2-4 to 0-3 as O’Leary delivered a moment of magic netting his second goal. Again fielding well he was jostled by a Lixnaw defender and as it looked like a free would be given, O’Leary turned into an acute angle on the right byline and found the top left corner of the Lixnaw goal.

As the half wore on Abbeydorney continued to have the umpires going for the white flag, with 27 minutes elapsed Daniel O’Leary made a strong surge through the Lixnaw cover and fired the third goal into the net. 3-8 to 0-4 Lixnaw had little in the way of chances in the opening half, and faced a further deficit at the break, when Oisin Maunsell was hauled down on route to goal by Christopher O’Sullivan. Michael O’Leary stepped up and fired to the bottom left corner, sending Stackpoole the wrong way. O’Leary brought his tally to 3-6 in stoppage time as she split the posts from a free on his own 65m line.

The half time introduction of Shane Conway sparked new life into Lixnaw in the second period. Eoghan Stack ended a 13 minute wait for a Lixnaw score in the opening minute, seconds later Conway was off the mark as he reacted quickest to a long range Darragh Conway free dropping short.

Conway tallied 1-5 by the 48th minute as Lixnaw reduced the arrears, 4-11 to 1-13. Momentum was with Lixnaw but a turning point arrived inside the final ten minutes when Oisin Maunsell made a swashbuckling run through the heart of the Lixnaw rearguard and dispatched low past Stackpoole for the fifth goal.

The draw for the two Preliminary SHC quarterfinals was made just after the game.

• Causeway v Dr Crokes 
• St Brendans v Tralee Parnells 

Scorers for Abbeydorney: M O’Leary 3-8 (1-0 pen, 4fs, 2 ‘65’), O Maunsell 1-2, D O’Leary 1-1, M Clifford, N O’Mahoney, J Sheehan 0-1 each 

Scorers for Lixnaw: S Conway 1-7, R Heffernan 0-4 (4fs), R Galvin, J Brosnan 0-2 each, C Sheehy, E Stack, J Galvin, 0-1 each 

ABBEYDORNEY: C Bohane; K Dineen, S Egan, M Clifford; J O’Connor, R Donovan, J Maunsell; O Maunsell, D O’Leary; N O’Mahoney J Sheehan, C O’Sullivan; D Egan, M O’Leary, J Parker 

Subs: T Hannafin for N O’Mahoney (38), J Hannon for D Egan (45), K Sheehan for D O’Leary (51), R Hannafin for M Clifford (57), PJ Keane for J Parker (60+4) 

LIXNAW: M Stackpoole; C O’Sullivan, G Stackpoole, D McElligott; D Conway, D Shanahan, A Shanahan; S McElligott, R Heffernan; J Brosnan, J Galvin, T Foley; R Galvin, T Brosnan, E Stack.

Subs: S Conway for G Stackpoole and Aidan O’Brien for D McElligott (both h/t), C Sheehy for T Brosnan (45), K Molloy for R Galvin (54) 

Referee: P Smyth (Waterford)