ST PATRICKS 0-12

SEAN O’MAHONYS 1-8

St Patricks booked their place in the Senior Championship semi-final after coming through a tight contest at Clan na Gael Park on Sunday night.

After three rather one-sided quarter-finals, this proved to be a very tense affair throughout but in the end it was a late point from Cathal Grogan that sent his side through.

Recent meetings between the teams have produced plenty of fireworks and this was no different in a game where the lead changed hands a number of times over the course of the hour.

It was the Dundalk side who made the brighter start with points from Stephen Kilcoyne and Conor Finnegan before Paddy Keenan announced his return to the team by opening the Pats account.

That was the signal for the Pats to get on top and Keenan added another three along with a point from Daniel O’Connor to ease their side into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead. Keenan and Kyle Carroll exchanged scores before the O’Mahonys got right back into the game when Conor Crawley claimed the only goal of the game to level matters at 1-3 to 0-6 at the break.

The Point Road outfit took heart from that score and early in the second half moved two points clear thanks to efforts from David Redmond and Ben McLaughlin, but those scores were cancelled out by Ray Finnegan and Keenan to leave the teams level at 1-6 to 0-9.

Kyle Carroll had the O’Mahonys back in front but the lead didn’t last long as Daniel O’Connor and Aidan McCann saw the Pats edge in front once more, however the game was back on a knife-edge when David Redmond scored his second point of the game to make it 1-8 to 0-11.

In a tense finale both sides pushed for the winner but it was Cathal Grogan who proved to be the hero as he held his nerve to send over the winner and his side held out despite the injury-time dismissal of Conor Grogan.

ST PATRICKS: Sean Connor; Leonard Gray, Darren O’Hanlon, Jason Woods; Ray Finnegan 0-1, Eoghan Lafferty, Dessie Finnegan; Thomas McCann, Paddy Keenan 0-6, Ross Murphy, Daniel O’Connor 0-2, Aidan McCann 0-1; Conor Grogan, Cathal Grogan 0-2, Aaron Rogers. Subs: Daragh Lafferty for J Woods, Sean McGeough for E Lafferty BC.

SEAN O’MAHONYS: Kevin Brennan; Chris O’Neill, Ronan Byrne, Kurt Murphy; David Redmond 0-2, Liam Dullaghan, Keith McLaughlin; Conor Martin, Shane Brennan; Conor Finnegan 0-1, Ben McLaughlin 0-2, Kyle Carroll 0-2; Stephen Kilcoyne 0-1, Conor Crawley 1-0, Shane Kerrigan. Subs: Johnny Connolly for L Dullaghan BC, Niall McLaughlin for J Connolly BC, Benny Traynor for C Martin, Vinny Smith for S Kerrigan.

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