McGuigan Builders Intermediate Football Championship Semi-Final

Corduff 0-7 Rockcorry 0-7                          11/9/11

Corduff and Rockcorry will have to battle it out once again for a place in the IFC Final against Carrickmacross after they played out a low-scoring draw in Clontibret on Sunday. Played in difficult conditions, this game was a bit of a war of attrition, with both defences on top and neither side was ever able to open up much of a lead, as the sides were level on five occasions. Mark Daly looked to have dragged Rock over the winning line with a brace of late points, but Keith McEnaney hit the equaliser for Corduff from a last-gasp free to stretch their unbeaten championship run to 14 games.

Corduff went into this one as favourites, but their forwards never really got going and Martin Mills was the only one of their front six to score from play, although Ciarán Brennan, Shane McNally Jnr. and Ben Woods played well in defence. Rock’s forwards themselves managed just two points from play, but they had good performances from Mark Daly, Stephen McGuirk, Niall McKeown, Damien Matthews and Keith Daly.

Garry Calvert opened the scoring for Rockcorry, but Raymond Byrne brought Corduff level with a point from a free after a foul on Keith McEnaney. 20-metre frees by Stephen McGuirk and Mark Daly, following fouls on Noel Carroll and Mark McGuirk, gave Rock a two-point lead, which became three when McGuirk converted a 30-metre free after Byrne had been penalised for over-carrying. Corduff finally got their first score from play (and their first score of any kind for all of 20 minutes) in the 28^th minute when they put together a move involving Shane McNally Jnr., Shane McNally Snr. and Byrne which was well finished by Ciarán Brennan, who had raced forward from full-back. That made the score 0-4 to 0-2 in favour of Rockcorry at the end of a scrappy first half.

It took less than a minute after the restart for Martin Mills to link up with Keith McEnaney and reduce Corduff’s deficit and Mills levelled it up with another point from play eight minutes later. Only the width of the post prevented Byrne from giving Corduff the lead from a 30-metre free, but McEnaney made no mistake from a similar distance after Stephen McGuirk had been penalised for taking too many steps. Niall McKeown and Noel Carroll combined to set up Mark McGuirk for a well-taken point – Rock’s first of the half – with 13 minutes left, but Mills converted a 30-metre free for a foul on Ben Woods to restore Corduff’s advantage.

Mark Daly kicked an excellent point from play to level it up for the fourth time, before Rock keeper Jamie Smith came to his side’s rescue by denying Pádraic Keenan after good approach play by McEnaney and sub Martin McDermott had made the opening. Rock hit the front when Mark Daly tapped over a close-range free for a foul on Paul McKeown in the first minute of injury-time, but there was still time for Corduff to win a free for a foul on Declan Larkin and Keith McEnaney made no mistake to set up a replay which looks set to be played in Inniskeen on Friday night. Corduff will hope to have Shane Connolly back after he missed this game, while Niall McKeown is a doubt for Rockcorry after he went off injured.

Corduff: J Hand; B Woods, C Brennan (0-1), C McEnaney; D Larkin, G King, S McNally Jnr.; C Connolly, S McNally Snr.; K McEnaney (0-2f), M Mills (0-3, 1f), S Malone; J McEnaney, R Byrne (0-1f), B McNally.

Subs: P Keenan for J McEnaney (H-T), M McDermott for Malone (54 mins).

Rockcorry: J Smith; C Reilly, D Matthews, K Daly (Capt.); S McGuirk (0-2f), B Patterson, N McKeown; M Daly (0-3, 2f), N Carroll; M Carroll, P McKeown, K Clerkin; D Rooney, G Calvert (0-1), M McGuirk (0-1).

Subs: F McGeough for Calvert (45), L Smyth for Rooney (52), C Quinn for N McKeown (inj., 54), O Fitzpatrick for Clerkin (60).

Referee: D Helferty (Truagh).