Down and Fermanagh joined Tyrone and Donegal in the semi-finals of the Barrett Sports Lighting Dr McKenna Cup after victories over Derry and Armagh yesterday, respectively. In his first three games in charge, Down manager James McCartan has steered the Mourne men to three victories with the latest coming at Derry's expense at Celtic Park, where the visitors snatched a 1-15 to 1-13 win. The winners raced out of the traps from the start against a Derry side absent of ace forwards Eoin and Paddy Bradley through injury and led by five points at the break thanks largely to the scores of Ronan Murtagh (3), John Clarke and Mark Poland. Ten minutes into the restart and McCartan's team were ahead by nine after half-time substitute Martin Clarke blasted in the rebound of his saved penalty and tagged on a point shortly afterwards. To their credit, the hosts never threw in the towel and staged a miraculous recovery to draw the game level in the 66th minute after substitute Aidy McLaughlin secured a brace of points. However, Down insured that they would be finishing Group C with their 100 per cent record intact in the closing stages, as early introduction Paul Comiskey popped up with a late pair of points to settle the issue and send his team into a semi-final meeting with Donegal this Wednesday in Enniskillen. Fermanagh edged out Armagh by the same margin at the Athletic Grounds to make sure there would be no debate as to who would join accompany Tyrone in their last four clash. The Ernesiders took in a 1-4 to 0-3 advantage at the interval after Ryan Jones' 28th minute goal caught the hosts by surprise, with the midfielder's attempt of a point dropping short and into the top-corner of Paul Hearty's net. Malachy O'Rourke's charges pushed on in the second-half and two free from Jones along with a superb point from Ciaran Flaherty had them well on their way. Ronan Clarke set-up veteran attack partner Steven McDonnell for Armagh's goal early on in the last quarter and some accurate frees from the same player had the Orchard men threatening to level, but Fermanagh held on for a 1-8 to 1-6 win in the end. In Belfast, Antrim and Queen's slugged out a cracking game at Casement Park, which saw Liam Bradley's men pick up their second win of the campaign on a 0-15 to 0-14 score-line. The majority of the first-half had been one-sided as Queen's powered into a commanding 0-9 to 0-1 lead with Antrim star Justin Crozier and Derry ace James Kielt firing over the scores which punished the hosts early on, but points from Michael Magill, James Loughrey and Gerard Walls had the difference down to five at the break. The Saffrons rallied after the interval and the introduction of Paddy Cunningham six minutes in proved decisive, as he kicked four points (one free) to bring the game level and that's how it looked like finishing until Kevin Brady - playing his 94th senior county game - fisted over the winner in injury-time. Monaghan finished off their campaign with their first competitive win of 2010 against UUJ at Inniskeen, where they triumphed to a 4-16 to 2-13 victory over the Belfast students. Goals from Dermot Malone and Ciaran Hanratty helped cancel-out Caolan Byrne's early three-pointer for UUJ and put Monaghan into a 2-8 to 1-5 lead at half-time. After the restart, Hugh McElroy all but wrapped up the points for the Farney men when he slotted in his penalty after Hanratty had been brought down in the square by Shane O'Hagan. Darren Hughes pulled back a goal for the visitors, but overs from Hanratty and Paul Megan were backed up by a cool 1-1 from McElroy in the end to hand Seamus McEnaney's team their first win of the season. Tweet

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