Killeshandra (Cavan) 0-14
St Teresas (Antrim) 1-7

Cavan champions Killeshandra moved into the semi-finals of the Ulster club intermediate football championship this afternoon with a four-point victory over St Teresas of Antrim at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Stephen King's charges were full value for their win and again drew on the inspiration of midfielder Declan McKiernan, scorer of 0-6, as his frees and assists from open play helped them over the line against a stubborn Teresas outfit.

The Antrim winners looked to have got themselves off to a dream start after registering a goal inside the opening four minutes, but couldn't stick with their opponents as they pulled away in the early stages of the second-half, while doing enough in the final quarter to ensure they'd be the only Cavan side left in the Ulster club championship race after Balllinagh and Kill's exits from the senior and junior grades, respectively.

The victors kicked their first two scores via Declan McKiernan (free) and Eamon O'Reilly inside two minutes before being rocked by a goal from Robbie Gallagher after Joe Masterson failed to hold on to Anton Taylor's powerful shot, which saw his fellow corner-forward pouncing quickly to bundle the ball over the line.

Killeshandra immediately regrouped and threaded Austin Fitzpatrick through for a goal chance of his own which rattled off the crossbar and fell kindly to Shane O'Reilly, who slotted over.

An Aaron Thompson free put the west Belfast men in front for the last time in the ninth minute, as the home side began to up the ante and were two in front by the 13th minute thanks to two fine frees from the deadly McKiernan and Tomas O'Reilly fisting over with the goal at his mercy.

The teams were level for a third time five minutes from the break, after points from Gallagher and Thompson (free), but McKiernan, who was so instrumental for the Leaguers late on in their county final triumph last month, kept his kicking boots in good working order and landed two more long range scores to send Killeshandra in with the 0-8 to 1-3 half-time lead.

O'Reilly and McKiernan (free) extended the lead to four in the early stages of the second-half and when Aaron Brady landed a gem from his midfield station soon after, all the signs were pointing towards King's men advancing.

To their credit, the Saints continued to carry the fight and never let themselves get out of contention, as a Taylor point and frees from Gallagher and Thompson outweighed a single from Dara Tighe at the other end to leave three in it with just over five minutes remaining.

The next score would be seen as a crucial one heading into the final stages and it went Killeshandra's way as McKiernan spotted Cillian O'Reilly's burst out of defence and sent the corner-back through for their 13th score before Shane Murphy and Gallgher cancelled each other out late on, leaving the Cavan men with four points to spare and semi-final berth date to relish.

Killeshandra: Joe Masterson; Conor Smith, Colm Smith, Cillian O'Reilly (0-1); Ciaran Owens, Damien Higgins, Dara Tighe (0-1); Declan McKiernan (0-6, 4f), Aaron Brady (0-1); Eamon O'Reilly (0-1), Sean McKiernan, Tomas O'Reilly (0-2); Shane O'Reilly (0-1), Austin Fitzpatrick, Shane Murphy (0-1).

St Teresas: Conall Hamill; Conor Mallon, Ronan Campfield, Conor O'Rawe; Colm McGoldrick, Colin Toal, Paul Johnston; John Mallon, Brendan Agnew; Eamon Doherty, Chris Donnelly, Philip Maguire; Robbie Gallagher (1-3, 1f), Aaron Thompson (0-3, 3f), Anton Taylor (0-1). Subs: Eoin Gault for P Johnston (29mins), Darren McCann for E Doherty (35), Piaras McCaffrey for B Agnew (42), Joe Rainey for P Maguire (46).

Ref: Sean McLaughlin (Donegal) Tweet

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