Shercock 2-12
Redhills 1-8

Shercock had minimal fuss this afternoon in dispatching Redhills and moving towards an intermediate championship semi-final date with Arva.

The winners of this one made the most of their strong wind advantage in the first-half at Kingspan Breffni Park to usher themselves into a 10-point lead after 15 minutes, with goals from Shane McPhillips and John McEnroe devastating Redhills early on.

Within three minutes of the restart Francis McPhillips' men would be 12 to the good, picking up where they left off in the first-half, which saw some exhibition football being played at times, as Tom McCormack's goal provided the men from the border consolation towards the end.

It sets up a mouth-watering last four clash with Peter Reilly's Arva - the favourites before the competition started - next weekend.

In truth, this one was all but over after 15 minutes with Shercock having posted an unanswered 2-4 to arrive at a 10-point lead and Redhills would have to wait until the 21st minute before getting off the mark through a Turloc Mooney free.

McPhillips handed the winners the perfect start after 60 seconds, collecting a pass from Niall Clerkin and sending the ball into Paul Martin's net, and they'd add three more points from Ryan Clerkin, Lee Clarke and Damien McIntyre to leave the Paul Sherlock's men in a world of trouble after just 11 minutes.

Niall Clerkin pulled off some good work to send John McEnroe through for Shercock's second major and things went from bad to worse for the trailers when they lost wing back Andrew Dunne to a black card, forcing an early introduction for former Cavan Gaels forward McCormack.

Ryan Clerkin and Philip Clerkin bumped the lead up to 11 before Mooney struck a 40-metre free accurately into the breeze.

McPhillips and Cormac Brides traded scores prior to Niall Clerkin and Rory Dunne doing likewise, leaving it at 2-7 to 0-3 for the break.

McEnroe fired over in the early stages of the resumption to ensure his side picked up where they left off and moments later Colin Courtney denied Mooney the net with a fine save at the far end.

A sizzling run from Killian Clarke ended with another white flag, which moved the lead to 12, as Redhills came into a bit of a purple patch afterwards which reaped points from McCormack, Derek Fay and Colin Reilly.

Paddy McPhillips sailed over one at the other end to halt the trailers' streak as two points from Brides (one a free) helped take off the tarnish a bit, and when McCormack was threaded through to find Courtney's net with three minutes to go some pride was restored.

Clarke, who didn't need to be at his brilliant best here, rounded off the seven-point win for the beaten 2013 finalists with a sublime effort two minutes before the long whistle.

Shercock: Colin Courtney; Shane Clarke, Liam Og O'Reilly, Dean O'Reilly; Damien McInerney (0-1), Brian Sankey, Colin Clerkin; Philip Clerkin (0-2), Mark McKeon; Lee Clarke (0-1), Killian Clarke (0-2), Ryan Clerkin (0-2); Niall Clerkin (0-2), Shane McPhillips (1-1), John McEnroe (1-0). Subs: Daniel Clarke for R Clerkin (HT), Paddy McPhilips (0-1) for N Clerkin (HT), Kenny Burns for J McEnroe (52), Andrew Culleton (60), Michael McEneaney for P McPhilips (60).

Redhills: Paul Martin; Colin Carragher, Conor McMahon, Owen McDonald; Dessie Gumley, Rory Dunne (0-1), Alan Dunne; Derek Fay (0-1), Turloc Mooney (0-1, 1f); Gary Kelly, Colin Reilly (0-1), Killian McSherry; Cormac Brides (0-3, 2f), Andrew Dunne, Alan Brady. Subs: Darragh Duggan for C Carragher (13mins), Luke McEntee for G Kelly (15), Tom McCormack (1-1) for Alan Dunne (17, b/c).

Ref: Tony Gregory (Bailieborough)

Tweet

Most Read Stories