Killygarry 3-19
Cootehill 2-16 aet

Killygarry are through to the last four of the senior football championship after coming through another epic clash with Cootehill Celtic tonight.

It may have taken 160 minutes of football to eventually separate these sides, but in the end it was Killygarry that dug deepest in the added periods at Kingspan Breffni Park to see off their counterparts and set-up a quarter-final clash with Mullahoran.

Not even an incredible 1-11 tally from star forward Enda Hessin could save Cootehill this time, as they ran out of steam in extra time and allowed Ciaran O'Reilly's team to redeem themselves after surrendering a five-point lead in last week's drawn encounter at the same venue.

This time, however, it was the would-be winners whom were lucky to get a second chance as a 63rd minute goal from super sub Eoin Smith forced extra time for them and they were finally able to kill off the opposition.

Neither of these evenly matched sides had been more than a goal a part from each other during the first 60 minutes, with Killygarry seeing an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead slip away from them in the space of a minute. Tom Hayes' lone point for the evening was immediately backed up by the sensational Hessin, who turned on his burners to blast through the Crubany men's centre, hitting the net in the 16th minute.

Likewise, O'Reilly's team responded to Hessin's strike in the best possible fashion, taking back the lead with a drop-kicked goal from Mattie McKenna and within a minute the sides were back level after Stevie O'Connor slipped John McCutcheon through for a point at the other end.

Hessin and Colm Smith had their frees erased by Brian Sheanon's pair to keep things even and all that separated the sides at half-time was the Cootehill number 11's class, as he stroked over two to outweigh Donal Thomas's single and send the town side in with the slender 1-7 to 1-6 advantage.

The opening 10 minutes of the resumption saw Killygarry threaten to take their first real foothold, as Sheanon (free) and Andy McGovern landed early second-half points ahead of Brendan Murray crashing a rocket shot off Ryan Carroll's near post.

Hessin was called upon twice to bring the Celts level, after McKenna and Sheanon bumped up their tallies with frees.

A Colm Smith free gave the intermediate champions their first lead of the second-half with eight minutes to go and despite a brilliant score from Andy McGovern cancelling it out, Ciaran O'Malley's men looked to be home and dry when O'Connor found the net with four minutes remaining.

Substitute Brian Sherlock pulled off heroics to carry possession from centre-field to O'Connor's corner-forward station, allowing the latter to rifle the ball past Paddy Galligan and seemingly devastate Killygarry's hopes.

However, back came the Crubany men with an immediate point from Michael McGovern and despite Hessin firing over another in injury-time they never threw in the towel.

When the stage was set for their maestro Smith to rescue them he dually obliged, blasting the ball to the roof of Carroll's net deep into injury-time after Cootehill simply couldn't get a dangerously looped ball out of their square.

For the second time in six days, these sides faced into injury-time and it was the black and reds that had all the momentum behind them.

Andy McGovern and McKenna sent over the first two scores and this time the Crubany lads would have the answer to Hessin deadly accuracy.

Introduced at a perfect time by O'Reilly, Cavan minor star Darragh Gannon was on cue to shoot over a brace of points from play, which were backed up by a Sheanon free, and finally there was a little daylight between the teams by the short break (2-17 to 2-14).

Cootehill looked to be out of steam for the second-half and, as they did in the first 10 minutes, failed to register a score from open play, as their counterparts motored on until the last whistle.

Sheanon pointed in plenty of space after a clever Martin Reilly free caught out Cootehill's backs before sub Stephen McHugh fisted over and Brendan Murray ensured the victory by fisting in an effort which dropped short from the latter.

Killygarry: Paddy Galligan; Conor Connolly, Padraig Cahill, Michael McGovern (0-1); Conor Bates, Daryl McKenna, Ross Sheridan; Brendan Murray (1-0), Ryan Brady; Mattie McKenna (1-3, 1f), Andy McGovern (0-3), Brian Sheanon (0-6, 4f); Martin Reilly (0-1), Donal Thomas (0-1), Daniel Talbot (0-1). Subs: Fergal Clarke for C Bates (35mins), Conor Smith for R Sheridan (42), Stephen McHugh (0-1) for D Thomas (50), Eoin Smith (1-0) for D Talbot (59), Darragh Gannon (0-2) for F Clarke (63), Ross Sheridan for E Smith (66, BC).

Cootehill: Ryan Carroll; Sean O'Connor, Barry McGahan, Eoin Roche; Damien Sherlock, Joshua Hayes, John Carney; Glen Nulty, John McCutcheon (0-1); Gerard Argue, Enda Hessin (1-11, 8f), Colm Smith (0-2, 2f); Stevie O'Connor (1-1), Tom Hayes (0-1), Dermie Connolly. Subs: Brian Sherlock for D Connolly (HT), Caoimhin Carney for G Argue (37mins, inj), Neil McCluskey for C Smith (58), Mark Mullen for D Sherlock (70).

Ref: Ollie Donohoe (Knockbride)

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