St Vincent's 3-10
St Paul's 2-12

St. Vincents set up a date with Trim in the semi-finals of the Junior "B" Championship next Sunday with an heroic second half performance in Ashbourne on Saturday.

Over turning a seven point deficit St. Vincent hung on to win by the minimum in a memorable match. Some brilliant defending, notably Darren Hand and Davey Tallon kept the Pauls attackers at bay in a pulsating finale.

Ardcath started the game with a slightly weakened side with Steven Creed and Andrew McDermott being ruled out by injury and suspension respectively. It was Pauls that made the stronger start and raced into a 0-03 0-01 lead. Things could of been worse for the Vincent's only for some great goalkeeping by Kevin Woods. Declan O'Sullivan and Ciaran Hand kept Ardcath in touch with the score 0-05 0-02 points with 27mins gone. St. Vincent's were coming into the game more only for a calamity of errors gifted a soft goal on 28mins. The Vincent's misery was compounded when Enda Murphy had to be substituted soon after due to a hand injury with Davey Tallon taking his place. Both teams traded points before the end of the first half and it ended with St Pauls leading by 5 points 1-06 to 0-04 points.

The second half started with the St. Pauls racing into a 7 point lead. What followed was the massive turning point in the game. A goal mouth scramble lead to St. Vincent's talisman Declan O'Sullivan poking a goal in from close range. This was followed by a super individual score by Bob Tallon, who really came into the game when switched onto the 40 from full-forward. Ardcath's purple patch continued with substitute Martin Fox slotting in his first goal of an opportunist brace. This left the score 2-05 1-08. Martin Byrne scored a well worked point before Martin Fox made the most of some poor St. Paul's defending to make it 3-05 to 1-08

St. Paul's were reeling and where gifted another gilt edge goal chance with some indecision in the Ardcath full back line. Kevin Woods came for the bouncing ball and missed leaving the St. Pauls forward with only Ardcath's corner back Kieron Sheridan to beat. Fortunately for St. Vincent's he pulled of a wonderful save and the ball was pushed over the bar. Two more points by Ardcath left them leading by 5 points with only 12 minutes remaining.

With Ardcath looking comfortable, St. Paul's got right back into the game with a wonderfully worked goal. This left two points between the sides. That was followed by another pointed free from St. Paul's which left 1 point between them.

St. Vincent's needed a point badly and it was provided by Martin Fox who was putting in a man-of-the-match performance since being introduced. Swiveling onto his right boot from a difficult angle, he slotted over the vital score.

St. Paul's through everything at St. Vincent's in the dying minutes but just fell short. A wonderful piece of fielding in his own square by Davey Tallon epitomised the heart St. Vincent's lads shown in the 2nd half and they held on my the narrowest of margins.

The match made a wonderful spectacle and credit has to be given to both sets of players.

Best for Ardcath where Niall Tallon, Ronan Sheridan, Bob Tallon and Martin Fox

St Vincent's - Kevin Woods, Kieron Sheridan, Darren Hand, Enda Murphy(replaced by Davey Tallon on 29mins), Shane Ennis, Niall Tallon, Danny Dwyer, Ronan Sheridan, Alan Kearns, Martin Byrne, Paddy Arnold(replaced by Martin Fox on 30mins), Vinnie Browne (replaced by Colin Hand on 50 mins), Declan O'Sullivan, Bob Tallon, Ciaran Hand. Tweet

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