McGuigan Builders Intermediate Football Championship

Rockcorry 2-4 Donaghmoyne 0-9                           

Rockcorry are through to the IFC semi-finals for the second year in a row after they held on to edge past Donaghmoyne in Cremartin on Sunday. First-half goals by Martin Carroll and Paul McKeown proved to be the difference between the teams in a scrappy game, but Rock won’t care about the manner of the win, which keeps them in the running. Rock had Damien Matthews, Keith Daly, Noel Carroll and Stephen McGuirk to thank for their contributions, while Bernard Kelly, Christopher Deery and Declan Burns were best for Donaghmoyne, who sorely missed Pauric Donaghy.

Rockcorry got off to a good start when Mark Daly converted a free for a foul on Noel Carroll and it got better for them when unsure defending by Donaghmoyne allowed Martin Carroll to pull on a loose ball for the first goal of the game. Donaghmoyne came back into the game with points from Ciarán Daly (free) and Christopher Deery, but disaster struck for them when Paul McKeown benefited from some more unconvincing play at the back to pounce for Rock’s second major. Damien Connolly got a point back for Donaghmoyne, but Martin Carroll struck for a point at the end of the half to make it 2-2 to 0-4 in favour of Rockcorry at half-time.

A Ciarán Daly free and a point from play by Paul Kelly gave Donaghmoyne a positive start to the second half, but Rockcorry stayed in control, thanks to a point from a free by Stephen McGuirk after a foul on McKeown. Keelan Clerkin added a point to restore Rock’s four-point lead and even though they failed to add to their tally while wasting a number of chances, that proved to be enough. Christopher Deery linked up with Marty Hanley to take a point off Donaghmoyne’s deficit, before Bernard Kelly pointed a 35-metre free for a foul on Colm Connolly. Scores were hard to come by for both teams in the final quarter and Donaghmoyne suffered a blow with five minutes left when Damien Connolly was shown two yellow cards in the space of a minute, the second for a jersey-pull on Noel Carroll. The Fontenoys did manage to reduce the gap to the minimum when Ciarán Daly tapped over a 20-metre free for a foul on Deery, but Rock battened down the hatches to set up a semi-final clash with Corduff.

Rockcorry: S Lynch; C Reilly, D Matthews, K Daly (Capt.); N McKeown, B Patterson, S McGuirk (0-1f); M Daly (0-1f), N Carroll; K Clerkin (0-1), G Calvert, M Carroll (1-1); M McGuirk, D Rooney, P McKeown (1-0).

Subs: F McGeough for Rooney (46 mins), C Quinn for M Carroll (51).

Donaghmoyne: T Deery; F McBride, J Kelly (Capt.), D Burns; M O’Reilly, B Kelly (0-1f), S Kelly; C Daly (0-3f), C Connolly; N Kelly (0-1), D Connolly (0-1), M Hanley; D Coleman, C Deery (0-2), P Kelly (0-1).

Sub: G Woods for Deery (58).

Referee: G Treanor (Truagh).