St Fechins and Oliver Plunketts battled it out at The Grove on Saturday night for the right to play St Mochtas in the quarter-final and in the end it was the Termonfeckin side who prevailed on a 0-13 to 0-10 scoreline.

The Group 1 encounter was close in the first half with the teams trading scores throughout the opening 30 minutes. Joe Corrigan, Jamie King and Paul Matthews were all on target as the teams were tied at four points apiece at the end of the first quarter. Points from Cian Matthews and Conor Early helped keep the Plunketts very much in contention but two late scores from Ronan Holcroft saw the Fechins lead by 0-7 to 0-5 at the break.

The Plunketts fought back to level in the opening minutes of the second half thanks to scores from Early and Emmet Kelleher but the Termonfeckin men then made the decisive move as Holcroft (2), Niall Devlin and Matthews kicked unanswered points to open up a 0-11 to 0-7 lead. The Drogheda men battled until the end but couldn't bridge the gap and now face into a relegation play-off.

Hunterstown Rovers set up a meeting with St Brides in the quarter-final when they recorded a comfortable 3-14 to 1-10 win over Glyde Rangers at The Grove on Saturday.

Glyde needed victory to avoid facing a relegation play-off but were unable to cause an upset as Hunterstown claimed the points to ensure they finished top of Group 2.

Boosted by their win over Young Irelands in their opening game, Rovers began in confident mood but it wasn't until the 25^th minute that they scored their first goal as Tony McKenna's effort helped them to lead by 1-9 to 0-4 at the break.

Less than 30 seconds into the second half the game was all but over as a contest as Ryan Burns added a second goal. The Tallanstown side tried hard to remain in the game and struck a goal from Fiachra Sheridan while Trevor O'Brien weighed in with a total of four points. However, it was never going to be enough as Hunterstown remained in control throughout and Richard Taaffe added a third goal five minutes before the end.

Nh Fionnbarra set up a meeting with St Josephs in quarter-finals of the Intermediate Championship after scoring six points in the final 12 minutes to secure a 0-17 to 2-10 victory over Na Piarsaigh at Dowdallshill on Friday night.

The Dundalk side made the perfect start to this Group 3 encounter when a weak Mark Larkin shot was dropped into the net by Allan Matthews for the first score of the game.

The Finbarrs had the better of the remainder of the first half with Bernard Osborne and Andy McCann prominent in attack as they went on to lead by 0-10 to 1-5 at the break with Larkin accounting for all of Na Piarsaigh's scores.

Conor Obsorne scored the first point of the second half but Na Piarsaigh took control and with Alan McCartney, Paul Mallon and Robert Murphy on target they went 1-10 to 0-11 in front before Larkin fired in a second goal to open up a five point gap.

However, the Finbarrs finished strongly and kicked four points in quick succession before Oisin McGee levelled and Hugh Osborne landed the winner. The game ended in controversy when Na Piarsaigh were denied a penalty after Paul Mallon appeared to be fouled in the dying seconds.

St Brides clinched their place in the last eight when a strong second half performance saw them defeat Clan na Gael by 1-12 to 1-9 at Dowdallshill.

Friday night's Group 4 encounter between the joint leaders of Division 2 was expected to be tight and so it proved in the opening exchanges as the first eight points were shared. The Knockbridge men moved two clear thanks to Aaron Hoey and Paddy Reilly, but Billy Smith put the Clans in front when he pounced on a defensive mistake to score the first goal of the game.

JJ Quigley kicked the final point of the half to send his side in at the break 1-5 to 0-7 in front.

Quigley saw a shot crash off the crossbar early in the second half and the Brides took full advantage as Paddy Reilly found the net from a penalty. Emmet Kirk and Aaron Hoey combined to send the Knockbridge side 1-12 to 1-7 clear with ten minutes remaining.

The Clans piled on the pressure in the closing stages but against a strong defence they could only manage two late pointed frees from Conall McKeever as they now face the relegation play-offs.

Intermediate Championship quarter-finals

Hunterstown Rovers v St Brides

St Josephs v Nh Fionnbarra

Mattock Ranges v Young Irelands

St Mochtas v St Fechins

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