IFC quarter-final round-up: Joes send out a warning
September 01, 2014
Hunterstown's Keith Brennan gets the better of David Mernagh (St Josephs)
St Josephs sent out a warning to their Intermediate Championship rivals when they produced a magnificent performance in an eight-goal blitz of a shell-shocked Hunterstown Rovers.
The Cluskey Park side were simply relentless on their way to an 8-13 to 0-8 demolition of the reigning Junior Champions.
A Daire Smyth goal had the Joes 1-4 to 0-1 ahead on 15 minutes and further strikes from Derek Mulligan and Conall O'Hanlon gave them a 3-8 to 0-2 advantage at the half time whistle.
The Joes continued their blitz after the break and saw Daire Smyth, Peter Brennan and Conall O'Hanlon add goals in the third, before completing the victory with two further goals from substitutes Alan Quigley and Jack Mulligan.
Ryan Burns finished top scorer for Hunterstown with five points on what was an otherwise forgettable game for his team.
Meanwhile, Glyde Rangers caused the shock of the championship so far when they recorded a 2-7 to 0-7 win over Clan na Gael at The Grove on Saturday evening.
The Clans were reduced to 14 men after Paul Martin was sent off inside three minutes and soon after Ciaran Sheridan hit the net from a penalty to put his side 1-1 to 0-1 ahead.
The Clans began to dominate the game but kicked a series of wides as they went in at the break trailing by 1-2 to 0-4.
The Dundalk men continued to enjoy good possession in the third quarter but saw their chance of victory evaporate as they kicked six further wides.
Glyde made them pay for those misses when Trevor O'Brien fired in the second goal on 48 minutes to effectively seal victory and set up a meeting with St Fechins in the semi-final.
St Fechins made it through to the last four after eventually overcoming the challenge of St Mochtas at Clan na Gael Park on Friday.
Not for the first time it was the scoring ability of Ronan Holcroft that proved the difference as he scored the only goal in a 1-8 to 0-9 win.
Holcroft grabbed the all-important goal in the first half as he finished with 1-3 to his name while there were also points for Niall Devlin (2), Colm O'Neill, Harry McCarthy and Brian Devlin.
Declan Byrne (3) and Nigel Farrell (2) did their best to keep the Mochtas in contention throughout while Barry Mulholland, Eamonn O'Neill and Gareth O'Reilly were also on target.
The fourth quarter-final between St Brides and Sean O'Mahonys, scheduled for Friday night, was postponed due to a bereavement.
