This Week….
AIB Club Championship Semi Final
Colin Corkery fired Nemo Rangers into the final of the AIB Club football championship. The Corkmen defeated Charlestown of Mayo by nine points to seven in a poor match at Nenagh on Saturday afternoon. An early burst of scoring by the Mayomen saw them race into a three points to nil lead. Sean Higgins and Mark Caffrey were on target for Charlestown in the opening two minutes, but Corkery was accurate in the early stages for the Cork side, both from the ground and in open play. Midway through the first half, the game fell into a trough of missed opportunities and bookings. David Tiernan was the first into the referee’s notebook for a high tackle. He was quickly followed by Niall Geary of Nemo, but Sean Higgins was wide with the resulting free. Paul Mulligan (Charlestown) and Maurice McCarthy (Nemo) were also cautioned by the referee during a scrappy first half, the latter for an off-the-ball shoulder charge on a Mayo player. Charlestown were guilty of wasting several good scoring opportunities, with Richard Haran and Padraig Horkan shooting wide from very scoreable positions. However, they did go in at half time with a two-point lead, thanks to a Paul Mulligan brace on 27 and 28 minutes. Corkery reduced the deficit to just one point minutes into the second half with another free and both sides exchanged points before Nemo finally got back on level terms. It came from their number 14 Corkery again. Enda Casey received a yellow card, while JP O’Neill shot against the Charlestown keeper’s legs when through on goal. O’Neill was wide minutes later, but Corkery hauled his side into the lead for the first time with a point on 49 minutes. Mulligan restored parity on 51 minutes, but Charlestown were dealt a blow when full-back Enda Casey was dismissed one minute later for persistent fouling. Nemo Rangers took advantage of their numerical supremacy to score two more points, both from Corkery, to progress to the final.
National Football League Results and Round up
Division 1A Dublin 3-13 Westmeath 1-16 Galway 1-8 Cork 1-11 Roscommon 1-15 Offaly 2-11 Donegal 1-10 Tyrone 0-11 res
Division 1B Mayo 2-14 Cavan 2-12 Fermanagh 1-13 Kildare 1-9 Derry 1-10 Sligo 0-14 2.00: Down 2-11 Clare 0-9
Division 2A Antrim 1-11 Armagh 3-12 Leitrim 0-13 Louth 1-10 Wicklow 2-21 London 1-1 Limerick 2-12 Kerry 0-16
Division 2B Longford 1-12 Monaghan 0-11 Meath 3-11 Waterford 0-6 Carlow 0-12 Tipperary 1-11 Wexford 2-19 Laois 2-12
Walsh Cup SH Wexford 1-13 Kilkenny 1-12
Kehoe Cup SH Westmeath 0-8 Wicklow 1-13
Hastings Cup U-21 football final (played Sat) Kildare 1-16 Fermanagh 3-7 (aet)
Allianz NFL Division 1A
Donegal 1-10 Tyrone 0-11
High flying Tyrone were brought down to earth with a bump in this derby match, going down by two points to unfancied Donegal. In what was a close-fought encounter all the way through, Tyrone had 0-3 on the board inside 15 minutes, two from Stephen O’Neill and one from Jarlath Quinn. Donegal had replied with 0-3 of their own though, Brendan Devenney levelling the scores with his first of the game. Daylight was put between the sides when minor star, Christy Toye sent to the net and the home side lead 1-5 to 0-5 at the break. In the second half, Ryan McMenamin completed a Tyrone comeback to leave it 0-8 to 1-5, but Adrian Sweeney and Devenney replied before the visitors battled back once again. But the last say went to Colm McFadden for Donegal to seal a great win by two points.
Dublin 3-13 Westmeath 1-16
Dublin’s revival under Tommy Lyons continued with a solid three-point win over Westmeath. Playing their now trademark direct football, Dublin had three goals by the interval, two from Shane Ryan and a penalty from John McNally. Westmeath were struggling to stem the waves of attacks but kept in touch with some solid place kicking from JP Casey and Joe Fallon. It was 3-5 to 0-10 at the break. After the interval, Westmeath upped the ante with a goal from Paul Conway, and kept chipping away until the scores were level. However, Dublin finally got to grips with their opponents and a string of scores, including efforts from McNally and Senan Connell, put them back in control. Unlucky Westmeath then spurned two good goalscoring chances, JP Casey and David O’Shaughnessy being the guilty parties.
Galway 1-8 Cork 1-11
Cork caused a minor shock by putting their bad league start behind them to beat Galway on their home patch by three points. The Rebels were under the cosh in the first half and were lucky to still be in touch at the break after missing some good chances. Two from Philip Clifford and two from play from Brendan Ger O’Sullivan were the highlights. However it was all change after the break as the Galway midfield faded from the exchanges and the Cork full back line excelled. Matt Clancy goaled after 11 minutes but then a rapid-fire burst of 1-2 from the previously quiet Diarmaid O’Sullivan got Cork level. BG O’Sullivan then put Cork ahead by 1-8 to 1-7 and they tacked on three more against a converted free from sub Michael Donnellan. A deserved win for Cork and a halt to the Galway gallop.
Roscommon 1-15 Offaly 2-11
Yet another thrilling advert for the new-look Allianz NFL saw Roscommon snatch a brace of league points from Offaly after a rollercoaster encounter. The sides combined to notch 2-5 in a frenetic last ten minutes, with the winner eventually coming five minutes into time added on from Nigel Dineen. It was hard luck on Offaly who would have been full value for a draw if not a win after playing the better football for most of the match. Alan McNamee got their first goal on nine minutes and when Donie Ryan grabbed a second for a five point lead, Offaly looked to be cruising. However, a goal from John Hanly and two more Roscommon points set up the thrilling finish, where Dineen had the final say to send a Hyde Park crowd into raptures after another last-gasp win.
Allianz NFL Division 1B
Mayo 2-14 Cavan 2-12
Mayo hopes for two in a row league titles are on track after another narrow win, this time over Cavan at home. Larry Reilly had the visitors 1-1 up inside the first minute, but dithering in the Breffni defence allowed Conor Mortimer to send to the net minutes later. Noel Connelly came up for a point to level the scores but then Cavan poacher Jason Reilly goaled to leave it 2-2 to 1-2. The Breffnimen continued to play well but missed some good chances and lead by just 2-5 to 1-5 at the break. Then, Mayo began like a train on the restart and were soon four ahead after a fisted goal from Stephen Carolan. That proved to be the decisive score, although Cavan closed the gap to just a point nearing the finish through Larry and Peter Reilly, before Mortimer grabbed a late point from a free.
Fermanagh 1-13 Kildare 1-9
Just as Kildare looked to be building up a head of steam in the league, the wheels have come off after a four-point loss to unfancied Fermanagh. Kildare had quickly found themselves 1-2 down in their previous game with Cavan and the same happened in this match when Raymond Gallagher goaled, while Colm Bradley and cousin Rory added points. Tadhg Fennin then missed a good goal chance before David Jordan finally netted for Kildare, only for Fermanagh to put their shoulder to the wheel once again with points from Karl Donnelly and Rory Gallagher to leave it 1-8 to 1-4. Leonard Dolan and Killian Brennan closed the gap for Kildare once more but a combined 0-3 scoring effort from the Gallagher duo yet again restored the Fermanagh advantage and they didn’t relinquish it thereafter.
Derry 1-10 Sligo 0-14
Derry’s miserable start to the NFL has continued after they fell to a fourth successive defeat at home to league specialists Sligo. Dessie Sloyane was the key forward on view for the visitors in the first half, notching 0-4 from frees and play which helped the Yeats men to a 0-7 to 0-6 lead at the break. Derry are continuing to struggle without their Ballinderry contingent, but grabbed a lifeline when Geoffrey McGonigle fisted a goal to put them in front. He added two more points, but missed a few other good chances, allowing Gerry McGowan to bring Sligo back into the game. McGowan shot 0-5 in the second half, the most important of which was the disputed ’45 metre kick that he landed in injury time. That was the score that won the game and kept Derry rooted to the bottom of the table.
Down 2-11 Clare 0-9
Down have secured their second win of the campaign with a comfortable victory over a wasteful Clare side at Newry. The visitors gave Pete McGrath’s men a little more to do than the scoreline suggests, but their efforts were undone by a toothless attacking unit in which only two of the starting players registered scores over the 70 minutes. In contrast, all of the Down attackers got on the scoresheet, with star centre-forward Aidan O’Prey nabbing a goal in each half. It was as good as over at the break with the scores at 1-7 to 0-2, although Clare did make a host of changes and rallied towards the finish, with Paul Hehir and Denis Russell each scoring 0-2 as the game came to an end. It was a satisfactory result for Down without their Mayobridge contingent.
Allianz NFL Division 2A
Limerick 2-12 Kerry 0-16
It was truly an historic day at the Gaelic Grounds as Limerick secured their first win over Kerry, in competitive senior football, since 1898. They did so on the back of a very strong first half showing. With John Quane dominant in the centre of the field, they lead 2-10 to 0-7 at the break, the goals coming from Jason Stokes and Pat Aherne. As expected, Paidi O’Se reshuffled at the break, moving Seamus Moynihan to midfield, and Kerry dominated totally. Noel Kennelly, Eoin Brosnan, Moynihan and Aodan MacGearailt all got on the scoresheet, but the elusive goal would not come. Limerick only got two points in the second half, one from Jason Stokes again, but it proved to be enough as Kerry found the half time deficit of nine points to large to reel in all the way.
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