Ballymachugh 3-12
Knockbride 0-7

Relentless Ballymachugh thrashed Knockbride this evening at Kingspan Breffni to seal their berth back into the junior football championship final.

Last year's beaten finalists showed no mercy to the men from Canningstown with goals from Richie Fitzsimons (1-4) and Padraig Galligan (2-2) helping them to an unassailable 11-point lead by half-time, with their opponents only managing a single point into the stiff breeze during the opening 30 minutes.

Stephen Baxter's side had well and truly made the most of their wind advantage during the first-half and went for the Knockbride jugular at the start of the second, firing 1-2 in the first five minutes of the resumption to all but usher themselves into a third final in four years where they'll await the winners of Drumalee and Shannon Gaels.

The Hughs nearly had the dream start to this semi-final 23 seconds in when goal-specialist Alan Donohoe had his effort well-blocked by Patrick Morgan in the Knockbride goal.

The Hughs would get up and running three minutes later anyway through a point from James Kiernan before their net-minder Darragh Goldrick denied Larry Maguire a certain goal at the other end.

Morgan saved from point-blank range to deny Kiernan in the 10th minute but Baxter's side soon had the ball in the net after Richie Fitzsimons broke through again and toe-poked into the roof of the Knockbride net.

Mark Kiernan, Fitzsimons and James Smith all raised white flags in the ensuing 10 minutes with the wind at their backs to put some real daylight between the sides.

Patrick Rogers miscued a 14-metre free to open Knockbride's account, which allowed Smith to make it a seven-point game at the other end, before the former eventually got the Canningstown outfit off the mark with a sublime effort in the 26th minute.

Last year's beaten finalists were determined to make the most of their wind advantage before the half's close though. They grabbed more points through Fitzsimons and James Kiernan ahead of Padraig Galligan netting the last score from close range before the interval, leaving an 11-point margin (2-6 to 0-1) for Jason O'Connor's charges to try and overcome in the second-half.

Galligan and James Kiernan shot points into the breeze to stretch the advantage to 13 within two minutes of the restart and the game was well and truly over as a contest once Smith grabbed a short point effort and fired past Morgan for three more points.

Patrick Smith's 35-metre free stopped the rot only momentarily for O'Connor's men as Hughs midfielder Smith added another point to his tally, maintaining the 16-point margin.

A hat-trick of points from Rogers (free), Niall McCabe (free) and veteran sub Raphael Rogers proved to be Knockbride's best spell of the game but it wouldn't take the tarnish off the scoreboard as Barry Kiernan and Fitzsimons (free) rounded off the Hughs' tally.

Ballymachugh: Darragh Goldrick; Gary Kelly, Darragh Kiernan, Jamie Coyle; Christopher Rooney, Anthony Baxter, Dillon Kiernan; Liam Buchanan, James Smith (0-2); Mark Kiernan (0-1), Barry Kiernan (0-1), Alan Donohoe; Richie Fitzsimons (1-4, 2f), James Kiernan (0-2), Padraig Galligan (2-2). Subs: Stephen Harten for P Galligan (52), Stephen Halton for C Rooney (57), Finbar Sheridan for M Kiernan (59), James Fitzsimons for L Buchanan (59).

Knockbride: Patrick Morgan; Declan Nulty, Peter O'Reilly, Sean Rogers; Eamonn Carolan, Michael Clarke, David Rogers; Patrick Rogers (0-2, 1f), Jordan McCabe; Philip Rogers, Patrick Smith (0-1, 1f), Roy Donohoe; Ciaran Smith, Larry Maguire, Niall McCabe (0-1, 1f). Subs: Conor Smith for P O'Reilly (12mins), Adrian Carroll for D Nulty (20, inj), Niall McCabe for R Donohoe (36), Adam Traynor for L Maguire (43), Raphael Rogers (0-3, 2f) for P Smith (50, inj), Ben Clarke for A Carroll (53).

Ref: Chris McCaffrey (Templeport)

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