Louth GAA club | Junior and Intermediate Football Championship round-up

Dundalk Young Irelands 5-14 Westerns 0-15

Derek Maguire rolled back the years with a stunning goal-scoring display to propel Young Irelands into the Louth GAA Junior Championship Final.

The former Louth star rattled in a hat-trick at Stabannon on Saturday evening to see his side ease to victory and end the Westerns' hopes of Christy Bellew glory.

The Reaghstown men went into the game on the back of a memorable quarter-final victory over O’Connells, but they were unable to repeat those heroics against a Dundalk side who were on their game from the opening whistle.

On a day when the Dundalk side were ruthless in front of the posts, it was Ruairi Kelly who got the ball rolling as he opened the scoring with a goal after just a minute.

The Westers responded with an Oisin Drumgoole point and a Tommy Durnin orange flag, but their work was undone after 11 minutes when Dean Maguire pounced for the second goal to make it 2-1 to 0-4, as Jack Martin and Dean Maguire had pointed for their respective sides.

Just after the start of the second quarter, Derek Maguire got in on the act with his first goal of the game, but a Ciaran Scriven point and Cathal Kennedy two-pointer kept the Reaghstown men very much in touch when they cut the gap to 3-2 to 0-7.

However, the Young Irelands piled on the pressure in the final five minutes of the half with Maguire scoring a second goal along with points from Ruairi Kelly and Jordan O’Donoghue to stretch the lead to 4-5 to 0-9 at the break. Killian Crosbie raised an orange flag for the Westerns with the final score of the half.

Tommy Durnin picked off the first point of the second half to show that his side were in no mood to give up the fight, but their hopes were all but over when Maguire added a quick-fire 1-1 followed by two O’Donoghue points to make it 5-8 to 0-10 after 41 minutes.

There was no way back for the Mid Louth men from that stage, although they battled to the end and saw Martin, Durnin and Conor Smith add to their tally.

The Dundalk men eased home in the closing stages and completed their scoring with a Jordan O’Donoghue two-pointer to bring his tally to eight for the day.

Dundalk Young Irelands: Fergal Sheekey; Peter McCourt, Ciaran Murray, Conn O’Donoghue; Tadhg Hoey, Brendan Prendergast, Cian O’Donoghue; James Prendergast, Michael O’Shea 0-1; Peter Nixon, Jordan O’Donoghue 0-8 (2p), Sean Murphy; Dean Maguire 1-1, Ruairi Kelly 1-2, Derek Maguire 3-2.

Subs: Liam McStravick for P Nixon, Cian O Naraigh for Dean Maguire, Evan McArdle for B Prendergast, Lee O’Donoghue for P McCourt.

Westerns: Anthony Durnin; Roan Gallagher, Mick Martin, Joe Murphy; Killian Crosbie 0-2, Finn Duffy, Darragh Osbourne; Tommy Durnin 0-4 (2p), Matthew Kane; Conor Smith 0-1, Ciaran Scriven 0-1, Tom Maguire; Oisin Drumgoole 0-1, Jack Martin 0-3, Cathal Kennedy 0-2.

Subs: Adam Duffy for M Martin, Ryan Duffy for A Duffy, Emmet Smith for R Gallagher, Patrick Kerley 0-1 for C Kennedy.

Oliver Plunketts 2-6 Sean O’Mahonys 1-9

A Kristian Nolan goal deep into injury time sent this Intermediate relegation play-off semi-final to a replay after a dramatic ending at Darver on Friday night.

Sean O’Mahonys looked to be on course to secure their championship status for another year, but despite being in front for most of the second period, they were unable to hold out as the Plunketts snatched a draw.

After the teams exchanged early points through Stephen Keeley and Eddie Maguire, it was the Drogheda men who gained the upper hand as scores from Adam Smith and Robert Brodigan saw them ahead after ten minutes.

However, the O’Mahonys fought back to level with two points from Thomas Rice before the same player claimed the first goal of the game on 22 minutes.

That goal proved to be the difference between the teams at the break after Smith and Stephen Kilcoyne swapped scores to make it 1-4 to 0-4 at the short whistle.

Keeley had the opening score of the second half, but points from Aaron Mackin and Kilcoyne had the Dundalk side in control with a four-point advantage.

The Plunketts got themselves right back into contention on 40 minutes when Keeley found the net to reduce the deficit to 1-6 to 1-5.

The O’Mahonys recovered from that setback and appeared on course for the win when Sean Cassidy’s point was followed by an Eddie Maguire orange flag to open up a four-point gap with eight minutes to play.

The Plunketts refused to give up and Smith’s point on 56 minutes gave them renewed hope before Nolan struck the late equaliser to secure a second chance for his side.

Oliver Plunketts: Daire Moore; David McTeggart, Cillian Smith, Barry Reynolds; Adam Lambe, Sean Smith, Niall Murtagh; Adam Smith 0-3, Ben Boyce; Stephen Keeley 1-2, Kristian Nolan 1-0, Killian Nolan; Robert Brodigan 0-1, Jamie Byrne, Adam O’Connor.

Subs: Dean Carolan for N Murtagh, Jack Taaffe for B Boyce, Gary Keogh for J Byrne.

Sean O’Mahonys: Eddie Maguire 0-3 (2p), Ciaran Redmond, Gary Crawley, Kian McEvoy; Conor Finnegan, Robert Galligan, Oisin Breen; Gareth Hall, Tiernan Cassidy; Junior Shotayo, Sean Cassidy 0-1, Brian McGuirk; Thomas Rice 1-2, Stephen Kilcoyne 0-2, Daniel Crawley.

Subs: Aaron Mackin 0-1 for Brian McGuirk, Conor Martin for T Cassidy, Stephen Kettle for S Cassidy, Cillian Lavery for A Mackin 56.

Glen Emmets 0-18 Clan na Gael 1-14

Glen Emmets can look forward to another season in the Intermediate Championship after overcoming Clan na Gael in a tight contest at The Grove on Saturday afternoon.

Late points from Keefer Carolan and Lorcan Lynch saw the Emmets just about edge things in a nervy finish to hold off a determined challenge from the Clans.

The Dundalk men will be disappointed to have missed out on this occasion after pushing the Tullyallen side all the way, but will get another opportunity when they face either Oliver Plunketts or Sean O’Mahonys in the relegation play-off final.

It was the Clans who were first off the mark through the impressive Liam O’Hanlon, but the village side hit back impressively with points from Cian Talbot and a brace apiece from Carolan and Lynch to ease into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead after 12 minutes.

The Dundalk men were struggling to find their best form in that spell but responded well when two two-pointers from Liam O’Hanlon, along with points from Billy Smith and Sean O’Hanlon, helped them get back into the game as they drew level at eight points apiece.

The closing ten minutes saw the scoring rate drop, and it was Carolan who had the final say of the half to send his team in with a 0-9 to 0-8 advantage.

The Clans started the second half brightly and edged in front thanks to efforts from Liam O’Hanlon and Smith, but the Tullyallen men picked up the pace and an Ian O’Reilly two-pointer along with three successive points from Kealan O’Neill had them back in the driving seat.

The Clans weren’t finished, and when Conall McKeever’s goal helped level the game at 0-16 to 1-13 with two minutes to play, the game was very much in the balance.

However, the drama wasn’t over as Carolan restored the Emmets' lead only for Robbie Curran to tie things up again in the last minute.

With both teams fighting for victory, it was the South Louth side who found the extra bit of composure in front of the posts as Lynch stood up to land the winner.

Glen Emmets: Ian O’Reilly 0-3; Brian Maguire, Keith Boylan, Robbie Byrne; Emmet Delaney, Calum Wogan, Cathal Maguire; Keefer Carolan 0-4, Cian Talbot 0-2; Conor Wogan, Kealan O’Neill 0-5, Lorcan Lynch 0-2; Darragh Russell 0-2, Ronan Carr, Diarmuid Cullen.

Sub: Eoghan Maguire for R Byrne.

Clan na Gael: Sean Smith; Michael McDonnell, Lee O’Carroll, Kevin Carroll; Conall McKeever 1-0, Conor Noonan, Jack Callan; Gerard Curran, Stephen Coleman; Gavin Gaffey, Jason Cullen 0-1, Liam O’Hanlon 0-8; Sean O’Hanlon 0-2, Billy Smith 0-2, Robbie Curran 0-1.