Kingscourt 0-11
Gowna 0-10

Kingscourt secured a championship semi-final place with a hard-fought victory over Gowna on Saturday night at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The Stars started brightly and led 0-4 to 0-1 after the first quarter and while points from Ryan McCormack and Mark McKeown kept the lead through the second quarter it was only due to some poor shooting from Gowna that the town side led by 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time.

Gowna resumed the sharper side to narrow the gap and received a further boost when Kingscourt were reduced to 14 men early on in the half, before leveling matters at 0-8 each with 10 minutes remaining.

Gowna appeared to have the momentum now but a further McKeown point put Kingscourt back in the lead before the Longford border side squared things again.

At this stage, both sides were emptying the bench and while Gowna were able to call on former county stars Gerald Pearson and Dermot McCabe, it was Kingscourt's bench that made the difference.

A superb '50' from Gavin Sheenan and then a point from the excellent Barry Tully gave Kingscourt a cushioned lead and while Gowna pegged one back, the Stars survived a late rally to make the last four.

Kingscourt will now bid to end an 11-year gap to reach a county final when they take on Ramor United, who defeated Lacken, at Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday, September 11 at 8pm. Tweet

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