Ballyboden St Enda’s 1-8 St Patrick’s 0-7
Ballyboden St Enda’s dug deep in the Drogheda mud to clear a tricky opening provincial hurdle on Sunday.
Colm Basquel capitalised on a mix-up in the home defence to fire home the only goal of the game five minutes after half-time, and that ultimately proved the difference between the freshly crowned Dublin kingpins and their gritty hosts, St Patrick's.
It was a cheap offering from the Louth men, as a short kick-out by Sean Connor invited Darren O’Reilly to nip in ahead of Patrick Kirk. In a flash, the ball was worked across the face of goal, where Basquel steered his finish past a couple of covering defenders.
There was still plenty of time for Pat’s to respond, but ‘Boden were able to reproduce the stubborn defensive resolve that served them so well in the Dublin final against St Vincent’s, and the gap never dropped under two points.
With stiffer tests to come, Andy McEntee will also be delighted that his team didn’t concede from open play in the second period.
Pats did have the ball in the back of the net for what looked like a late leveller from Paddy Keenan, but referee Patrick Maguire hauled play back, ruling they had taken a close-range free too quickly.
In the opening half the Louth champions were a match for their hotly fancied visitors in most sectors, but the final third told a different story, as a number of promising attacks floundered on a mis-placed pass.
They made good use of a strong breeze in the opening quarter with injury doubt Karl White opening the scoring and then adding another from play before Paddy Keenan made it 0-3 to no score.
As the wind abated Ballyboden slowly found their feet. Conal Keaney opened their account in the 15th minute and Andrew Kerrin drew them level five minutes before the interval, but Daniel O’Connor ensured Pat’s retired with their noses in front at 0-4 to 0-3.
Kerrin levelled matters again after the restart, before Basquel popped up with the crucial score.
Ballyboden: C Dooley; B Dwan, S Hiney, S Clayton; S O'Connor, D Nelson, A Waters; MD Macauley, D O'Mahoney; D O'Reilly, C Basquel (1-0), S Gibbons; Sam Molony, C Keaney (0-3), A Kerin (0-5, four frees). Subs: D McCabe for O'Mahoney (half-time), R McDaid for O'Connor (40), D Davy for Gibbons (47), C McCormack for Molony (50), S Durkin for O'Reilly (54).
St Patrick's: S Connor; K Toner, D O'Hanlon, P Kirk; E Lafferty, D Finnegan, O Zamboglou; E Breen, E O'Connor; A McCann, P Keenan (0-4, three frees), D O'Connor (0-1); K White (0-2), D Lafferty, C Grogan. Subs: R Murphy for Zamboglou (52), A O'Connor for D Lafferty (60).
Emmet Og 0-11 Navan O’Mahony’s 1-06
Six second half points in a row helped Longford champions Emmet Og advance to the Leinster Club semi-finals with two points to spare over Navan O‘Mahony‘s.
Despite taking an early lead the Killoe side found themselves trailing by two points at the break. O'Mahony's put three between at the start of the second half but then Killoe came back with Michael Quinn kicking over a fine point in the 35th minute.
Cousins Joe and Sean McCormack (two) hit over points while midfielder Simon Kiernan kicked over two excellent points to put his side ahead by three in the 43rd minute.
O'Mahony's cut the gap to one in the 52nd minute with points from Shane Gillepsie and Ruairi O'Coileain.
Both sides then squandered chances. In stoppage time Mark Hughes was fouled and Sean McCormack kicked over the free. O'Mahony's knew they needed a goal if they were to claim a dramatic win but the Killoe defence were resolute.
O‘Mahony‘s misery was compounded when O‘Coileain was sent off for striking Hughes. It was O‘Coileain‘s goal in the first half that had given his side the lead in the 20th minute. He gave them a two point lead at the break but the game changed in eight minutes as Killoe took control.
Emmet Og: C Burns; L Hughes, P McCormack (S Clarke 53), D Keogh; J McCormack 0-1, M Quinn 0-1, C Farrelly; P Thompson, S Kiernan 0-2; D McGoldrick 0-3 (3f) (L Moran 60), D Mimnagh, P Kiernan; L Moran (E Clarke 34), S McCormack 0-4 (2f), M Hughes.
Navan O'Mahony's: M Brennan; J O'Reilly, N McKeigue (S MacGabhann 43), D Smyth; B Dillon, D Maguire, G O'Brien; C McGuinness 0-1, K Reilly; Ruairi O'Coileain 1-3 (3f), S Bray, Alan Forde; S Gillespie 0-2, D Bray (H Finnegan 45), J Regan (R Maguire 49).
Portlaoise 2-5 Sarsfields 0-10
A 59th minute point by Brian Smith rescued Portlaoise and ended the valiant effort of 14-man Sarsfields in this exciting affair at O’Moore Park.
The heavy rain that had fallen throughout the day made conditions very difficult and contributed to the low scoring, with many kicks failing to travel the expected distance.
Portlaoise were unlucky when Conor Boyle saw his rasper cannon back off the Sarsfields crossbar.
The Newbridge men made the most of their fortune with a brace of 13th minute points by Sean Dempsey, and Dan Nea followed up five minutes later with a lovely score.
Portlaoise began to settle into the game and had the better of the second quarter, with Gareth Dillon fisting over from a tight angle after showing a clean pair of heels to the Sarsfields cover, before Paul Cahillane twisted excellently to cut the deficit.
The champions were in front when Craig Rogers brilliantly sent Andy O’Brien the wrong way from the penalty spot after Steven Lawlor had been booked for a foot block.
The defender was very unfortunate to be sent off when receiving a second yellow card, having appeared to have been the innocent party in a needless scuffle after the score.
Sarsfields responded well though and were level by half time (1-2 to 0-5) thanks to points from Sean Campbell and Ray Cahill.
They got their noses in front early in the second half but a Cahillane goal, after a sensational turn had created the opportunity to put the hosts ahead once more.
They could never shake off John Crofton’s men though and two Cahill frees brought the sides level before Smith denied them at the death.
Portlaoise: G Brody, C Healy, P Cotter, D Seale, B Mulligan, K Lillis, E Whelan, C Boyle, D Cullen, G Dillon (0-2), B Smith (0-1), B Glynn, C Rogers (1-0pen), P Cahillane (1-1), B McCormack (0-1). Subs: C Finn for Seale BC (40), R Maher for Glynn (44), K Fitzpatrick for Cullen (53)
Moorefield: A O'Brien, D McDonnell, S Lawlor, S Campbell (0-1), C McConnell, A Scully, C McInerney-Asepll, M Byrne, G White, C Kavanagh, R Cahill (0-5fs), R Fitzgibbon, B McCormack, D Nea (0-1), S Dempsey (0-3). Subs: C Duffy for Scully (18), C Hartley for Fitzgibbon (ht), C Scanlon for Nea (53), S Ryan for McInerney-Aspell (54), J Geraghty for McDonnell (70)
Referee: B Tierney (Dublin)
