Curraha's firepower was decisive as they saw off Grange in the Leinster Club JFC semi-final at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday.

Curraha (Meath)  0-16
Grange (Carlow)  0-9

The Meath JFC winners will be 'away' to St Brigid's Killashee (Longford) in the Leinster final on Sunday, December 6.

In a memorable year for the club, Curraha's bid for provincial honours was founded on a good start and a gutsy response to being a man down for 24 minutes

Though listed at nine, James McEntee posted six points from full-forward (five in the opening 30 minutes) and was central to other scores for Curraha who were never headed.

In the second-half, Conor Moriarty took the scoring plaudits for Curraha posting four to bring his tally five points (that included two from left-footed frees). David Toner's trio of points complimented admirable workrate.

Simon McDermott was again prominent in a defence that worked well to prevent the Carlow men from getting in for a goal. The only blot of the Curraha copybook was the red-carding of Niall Murphy in the 28th minute. Grange held numerical advantage until the 52nd minute when midfielder picked up his second yellow card.

At the stage Curraha led by 0-13 to 0-8 and outscored Grange by 0-3 to 0-1 after parity of playing numbers was restored.

Both sides passed up goal chances. The most notable was James McEntee's 25th minute penalty, at the town end, which didn't overextend Grange 'keeper Jack Teehan.

Early in the final quarter Curraha's Phelim Dowling blocked sub Ciaran O'Hanrahan's goal attempt before Liam Hogan tidied up matters. Late on the Curraha netminder saved well from John Murphy. Murphy was Grange's main scoring source from play and frees, finishing with seven points to his name.

Curraha sprinted from the blocks, posting three points from play in the opening seven minutes. James McEntee got the sequence rolling with a brace of points (one free). They were followed by a David Toner score with assistance from Evan McGovern.

McEntee added another point before John Murphy opened the Grange account in the 11th minute with a fine effort.

Grange's David Cleere fired low and wide from close range when placed Paddy Hickey 10 minutes in.

Curraha's response was to double their account with four more scores on the spin. A Conor Moriarity score was followed by Toner's second. Two more McEntee efforts (one free) made it 0-8 to 0-1 after 18 minutes.

Murphy pulled two points back for Grange including one outstanding effort from close to the sideline on the open terrace side, about 13 metres from the old swimming pool end line.

An Evan McGovern effort left it 0-9 to 0-3 for Curraha after 24 minutes before things began to unravel somewhat for the Meath JFC winners. McEntee's missed penalty was followed moments later by Niall Murphy's dismissal. However, Curraha showed the necessary resolve to advance to the final.

Curraha - Liam Hogan; Simon McDermott, Sean O'Hanrahan, Niall Murphy; Evan McGovern (0-1), David Toner (0-3), Seamus Hogan; Mark Jackson, James McEntee (0-6, 3fs); Conor Moriarity (0-5, 2fs), Danny Battersby, Conor Joyce; Neil Shortall (0-1), Brian Joyce, Phelim Dowling. Subs - Brian Murphy for McGovern (44), David Coyle for Battersby (46), Gavin Coyle (C) for Toner (59), Padraic O'Hanrahan for Moriarity (60).

Grange - Jack Teehan; Paddy Byrne, Cillian Murphy, John Doyle (C); Fionn Murphy, Henry Hegarty (0-1), Ned Pender; Ronan McGrath, Paul O'Halloran; Paddy McCall, John Murphy (0-7, 4fs), Cathal Bailey; Martin Kelly, Paddy Hickey (0-1), David Cleere. Subs - Stevie Doyle for Cleere (42), Kieran Pender for Kelly (42), David James for Byrne (55), Paddy Kelly for O'Halloran (bc 58),

Referee - Noel McKenna (Kildare)

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