St Patricks 2-14
Newtown Blues 2-5

St Patricks took another step in their quest to regain the Joe Ward Cup when they dethroned the reigning champions, Newtown Blues, in the semi-final at Haggardstown on Sunday evening.

The Lordship men proved too strong for the Blues over the hour as the avenged the defeat at the same stage of last year's championship, although a nine-point winning margin doesn't tell the whole story of the game.

Despite holding an eight point lead at the end of the first quarter, the Pats were made to fight all the way and it wasn't until the closing minutes that they wrapped the game up, with a goal from Eoin O'Connor in the dying seconds putting a gloss on the result.

The last two meetings between the two clubs being decided after replays, and the early indications were that this game would follow a similar pattern.

After Ray Finnegan opened the scoring, the Drogheda men responded through Colm Judge, who was passed fit to play after an ankle injury, and Hugh McGinn, only for Paddy Keenan levelled after eight minutes.

However, the peninsula side showed their quality with a devastating spell that saw them score 1-5 without reply in the next six minutes.

Danny O'Connor, Eamon Carroll, Eoin O'Connor, Karl White and Keenan all raised white flags, before White's long range effort sailed over the head of Conor Barton and into the back of the net to put his side 1-7 to 0-2 in front.

It wasn't looking good for the Blues, who were hampered by the absence of Andy McDonnell through injury, but they showed the mark of champions to force their way back into contention with point from McGinn before the same player hit the net from a 26th minute penalty after Derek Kierans had been fouled.

Soon after Conor Brannigan reduced the gap to 1-7 to 1-4 from a '45', but with the Blues failing to take further chances, the Pats had the final score of the half from Eamon Carroll to lead by four at half time.

The champions came out in the second half with all guns blazing and when Brian Kermode hit the net three minutes in, the game was right back in the balance at 1-8 to 2-4.

Crucially, the Blues were unable get the equalising score and Pats gave themselves breathing space when White and Carroll fired over to open up a three-point gap.

Conor Brannigan pulled one point back on 47 minutes but his side were unable to get the better of the well-organised and the defence and the Lordship side pushed on in the final ten minutes to close the game out.

Points from Ray Finnegan and Paddy Keenan made it 1-12 to 2-5 and as Blues were forced to go in search of goals, Eoin O'Connor and Carroll picked off further scores before O'Connor added a goal with the last kick of the game.

ST PATRICKS: Sean Connor; Kevin Toner, Dessie Finnegan, Darren O'Hanlon; Ray Finnegan 0-2, Colin Goss, Owen Zamboglou; Paddy Keenan 0-3, Paudie Mallon; Eoghan Lafferty, Karl White 1-2, Aidan McCann; Eamon Carroll 0-4, Eoin O'Connor 1-2, Danny O'Connor 0-1. Sub: Darragh Lafferty for K White.

NEWTOWN BLUES: Conor Barton; Aidan O'Brien, Eoghan Judge, Andrew Tinley; John Connolly, Colm Judge 0-1, James Murray; John Kermode, Keith Lynch; Barry Sharkey, Hugh McGinn 1-2, Robert Carr; Keith Arnold, Derek Kierans, Conor Brannigan 0-2. Subs: Brian Kermode for B Sharkey, Niall Costello for K Arnold, Andy McDonnell for E Judge, Aaron Keenan for D Kierans, Emmet Judge for C Brannigan.

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