ST JOSEPHS 1-16
NA PIARSAIGH 3-8

One of the favourites for the Intermediate Championship, St Josephs, survived a huge scare when they scraped past an unlucky Na Piarsaigh in St Brigid's Park on Friday evening.

In what proved to be a very entertaining encounter, the Joes enjoyed a huge slice of luck when with an late own goal and a point from a contentious free helping them get their campaign off to a winning start.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Dundalk side as, for the second week in succession, they put themselves in a winning position only to fail to see it through to the final whistle.

The will now be hoping that that Joes do them a favour by defeating the Fechins by three points or more to book a place in the quarter-final.

In what proved to be a very open game full of quality scores, both sides played with great determination, and it was Na Piarsaigh who ended the first quarter with a 1-2 to 0-3 lead thanks to David Boyle's well-taken goal.

However, the Joes had Alan Quigley and Alan McKenna in fine scoring form and they hit back with six of the next seven points to lead by 0-9 to 1-5 at the break.

A shock looked to be on the cards when the impressive Alan McCartney set up goals for Niall Franklin and Mark Larkin to put their side 3-7 to 0-12 in front after the third quarter.

The Joes needed some inspiration to get back into the game and it came from an unusual source as a centre from Derek Mulligan was fisted into his own net by Stephen McGuinness to tie the game up at 3-7 to 1-13 on 48 minutes.

The next two points were shared as the teams entered a tense final few minutes. Niall Franklin sent an effort just wide with two minutes to play and straight from the restart the Joes won a disputed free which Conal O'Hanlon tapped over. Paul O'Hare pulled off a great save to deny David Mernagh but from the resultant '45' sent over the insurance point to break the hearts of a deflated Na Piarsaigh.

ST JOSEPHS: Robert Sansom; Philip Kinahan, Ben Mulligan, David Kieran; Liam O'Leary, Alan Lynch, David Mernagh; Conal O'Hanlon 0-2, Peter Mulligan; Craig Doherty, Conal Smyth 0-1, Daire Smyth 0-3; Alan Quigley 0-4, Alan McKenna 0-5 (3 fr 1 '45'), Derek Mulligan 0-1. David Reilly for Conall Smyth (temp blood sub), Sean McQuillan for Peter Mulligan, Eamonn Neary for Robert Sansom (BC).

NA PIARSAIGH: Paul O'Hare; Joseph Woods 0-1, Ronan McCartney, Stephen McGuinness; Aidan Marks, Alan McCartney, Gary O'Hare; Eamon McAuley, Michael Woods; Jarlath Lyons 0-1, Sean McAuley, John Garvey; Mark Larkin 1-6 (4 fr), David Boyle 1-0, Cormac Malone. Niall Franklin 1-0 for David Boyle, Sammi Fassan for Jarlath Lyons. Tweet

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