AIB Club Championship Semi Finals

There were mixed results for the Ulster teams in their respecting AIB All Ireland Club Semi Finals this weekend.

AIB GAA Football All Ireland Intermediate Club Championship
Semi Final
Ballymore Eustace (Kildare) 1-5 Lisnaskea Emmetts (Fermanagh) 1-12

Daniel Kille was the hero of the hour after ending up with nine points as Lisnaskea Emmets (pictured) of Fermanagh booked a final date at Croke Park with a seven-point win over Kildare’s Ballymore Eustace in Navan yesterday.

Despite Tommie Archbold hitting the net after nine minutes for Ballymore, it was the Ulster champions who bossed the opening half. They already held a four-point lead before Mark Little blasted to the net in the final minute before the break to put them 1-8 to 1-1 ahead.

That was to prove the crucial score of the game.

Despite Ballymore’s best efforts in the second half they just couldn’t eat into the Lisnaskea lead.

The Kildare side never got closer than five points to their opponents.

Their day was summed up when Shane Kavanagh, brother of Kildare inter-county star James, picked up a second yellow card in the dying stages of the game.

Scorers — Lisnaskea Emmets: D Kille 0-9 (0-5f), M Little 1-0, A Little, S Carters, S Ingram 0-1 each. Ballymore: T Archbold 1-0, J Kavanagh 0-2, E Kavangh (1f), S Kavanagh, K Conway 0-1 each.

Lisnaskea Emmets — B McGoldrick; M Smyth, P Collins, K Curran; J Woods, M McKenna, N McIlroy; B Óg Maguire, C Curran; A Little, S Carters, M Little; S Ingram, P Curran, D Kille. Subs: D Graham for Collins (36), C Moane for Curran (60).

Ballymore — K McNally; C Clarke, P Browne, K Fennell; G Fennell, J Doyle, K Conway; T Grace, J Kavanagh; S Kavanagh, E Kavanagh, W O’Donoghue; M McCarville, T Archibold, G Clarke. Subs: M Headon for G Fennell (48), A Rooney for McCarville (56), B Moore for G Clarke (60), T O’Rourke for E Kavanagh (60).

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AIB GAA Football All Ireland Junior Club Championship 10/11
Semi Final
Ballinabrackey (Meath) 0-4 Swanlinbar (Cavan) 0-5

Cavan’s Swanlinbar held off a late Ballinabrackey surge to book their final spot against St Mary’s.

The Leinster outfit wasted numerous scoring chances in the second half but couldn’t pull level.

Swanlinbar struggled to find space inside their full-forward line but when they did, corner-forwards Mark Cunningham and Robbie Prior were on target.

With the sides deadlocked at three points apiece at the interval, the Meath side pushed ahead after the break. This brief advantage was quickly cancelled out and when Swanlinbar took the lead from a long-range Robbie Prior free in the 46th minute they incredibly held out to secure the victory.

Scorers — Swanlinbar: Mark Cunningham (1f), R Prior (1f) 0-2 each, G McKiernan 0-1. Ballinbrackey: D Quinn 0-2, S Curry (f), A Munnelly 0-1 each.

Swanlinbar — G Leydon; T O’Brien, M Cunningham, P Prior; D Leydon, D McGovern, P Leydon; M Curran, J Cunningham; C Curran P McGovern, G McKiernan; Mark Cunningham, K Brennan, R Prior. Subs: R McBarron for P McGovern (50), P McManus for R Prior (59).

Ballinabrackey — J Curry; N Judge, P Kenny, K Darby; B Lucey, R Kearney, D Flynn; T Bannon, F Bannon; D Quinn, S Curry, P Loftus; D Carroll, C O’Connor, A Munnelly. Subs: A Coffey for T Bannon (20), A Flynn for A Coffey (43).

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AIB GAA Hurling All Ireland Intermediate Club Championship
Semi Final
St John’s 1-9 (Antrim) Dicksboro (Kilkenny) 0-16

Dicksboro were made to fight all the way to eke out a narrow but deserved win over a gallant St John’s at Cusack Park, Mullingar, yesterday afternoon.

With corner-forward Brian McFall in fine form, the Antrim men gave as good as they got in the first half.

In the 20th minute a high delivery from McFall led to a scrambled goal from Liam Boyle and this score helped the Ulster men to a 1-6 to 0-7 half-time lead.

Two points within a minute of the resumption from Ollie Walsh and Martin Gaffney levelled the contest and it was Gaffney who went on to be the undoubted star of the second half, as he finished with a personal tally of 11 points.

Cillian Starr’s point approaching the midpoint of the half gave the Kilkenny men a lead they never looked likely to relinquish, despite the endeavour of St John’s.

Scorers — Dicksboro: M Gaffney 0-11 (0-6f), O Walsh 0-2, P O’Flynn, A Stapleton, C Starr 0-1 each. St John’s: B McFall 0-7 (0-3f, 1 s-l, 0-1 ’65’), L Boyle 1-0, S McCrory, N McCallin 0-1 each.

Dicksboro — S Morrissey, D Glynn, K Cuddihy, P Hogan, M Fagan, D Kenny, E Malone, D O’Gorman, C O’Loughlin, P O’Flynn, M Gaffney, O Walsh, A Stapleton, S Maher, C Starr. Subs: K Nolan for O’Loughlin (47), T Manning for Maher (52).

St John’s — C Cunningham, C Gannon, M O’Neill, C Morgan, L Knocker, S McCrory, A McGowan, G Clarke, C McFall, G Cunningham, Barry McFall, S Tierney, L Boyle, N McCallin, Brian McFall. Subs: M Lyons for Knocker (25), C McStein for Tierney(39), J Savage for Boyle (45), J Mead for McCallin (59).

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AIB GAA Hurling All Ireland Junior Club Championship 10/11
Semi Final
John Lockes (Kilkenny) 3-12 Inniskeen (Monaghan) 1-9

Kilkenny and Leinster champions John Lockes eased their way through to the final after they proved too strong for the Monaghan and Ulster champions Inniskeen in what was a well-contested game in Mullingar.

John Lockes led 1-6 to 0-6 at half-time, with hat-trick hero Ger Shelly scoring the first of his three goals in the 11th minute.

The Kilkenny side effectively won this game in the opening minutes of the second half, when they hit Inniskeen with a goal and four points in a blistering five-minute spell after which the Ulster champs were on a damage limitation mission.

And while Michael Lennon pulled back a late consolation goal for Inniskeen with seven minutes of normal time left, John Lockes’ spot in the final was never in any doubt.

Scorers — John Lockes: G Shelly 3-0, S Bourke 0-4, O McGrath 0-3 (1f), R Jackman 0-2, JP Corcoran, P Kennedy, S Bergin 0-1 each. Inniskeen: M Lennon 1-4 (0-2f), M Murphy 0-3, TJ Byrne, R Meegan 0-1 each.

John Lockes — P Morrissey; M Gordon, M Roche, J Power; A O’Sullivan, J O’Neill, M Hartley; JP Corcoran, M Holohan; R Jackman, P Kennedy, O McGrath; G Shelly, S Bourke, J Corcoran. Subs: S Bergin for M Holohan, D Roche for S Bourke, PJ Cody for G Shelly.

Inniskeen — G Ruddy; P Dooley, P Brooks, B McArdle; PJ Boyle, S Loftus, P Meegan; T Hilliard, G Dooley; M Murphy, D McGahon, K Boylan; TJ Byrne, M Lennon, R Meegan. Subs: P Dowdall for D McGahon, G Boylan for TJ Byrne.

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Match reports courtesy of www.independent.ie