St Mochtas and Dundalk Gaels will battle it out for the right to play in Division 1 next year after emerging successful from their semi-finals against Clan na Gael and O’Connells on Saturday evening.

ST MOCHTAS 1-26

CLAN NA GAEL 4-5

St Mochtas produced a memorable second half performance to get the better of Clan na Gael in Castletown on Saturday night.

It was an evening to remember for the Byrne brothers as they combined to score 17 points between them over the hour, with Declan kicking nine and Ciaran adding eight.

The Clans had the better of the first half and two goals from Billy Smith along with a third from Conall McKeever had their side leading by 3-3 to 0-8 at the break.

However, they were unable to sustain the effort in the second half as the Byrne brothers took change, while there were also points from Cormac Smyth, Brendan Duff and Ciaran McMahon along with a goal from Craig Lennon.

Robbie Curran scored a consolation goal for the Clans but it couldn’t prevent a 12-point defeat and relegation to Division 2.

ST MOCHTAS: Jason Callan; Liam Lawlor, Philip Englishby, David Lennon; Barry Mulholland, Andrew English, Conor Garland; Declan Byrne 0-9, Eamonn O’Neill 0-1; Danny Kindlon, Gerry Garland, Jamie Farrell; Ciaran McMahon 0-3, Ciaran Byrne 0-8, Darren McMahon. Subs: Craig Lennon 1-2 for D Lennon, Cormac Smyth 0-2 for J Farrell, Brendan Duff 0-1 for C Duff, Paddy Duffy for P Englishby,

CLAN NA GAEL: Sean Smyth; Donal Boyle, Robbie Curran 1-0, Brian McDonnell; Cian Callan, Micheal McDonnell, Paul Crewe; Ray McCabe, Adam Lynch; Gerry Curran, Paul Gore, Craig Long; Mark McGeown, 0-2, Billy Smith 2-2, Conall McKeever 1-1. Subs: Kevin Carroll for R McCabe, Jason Cullen for A Lynch, Tiarnan Weldon for G Curran.

DUNDALK GAELS 2-18

O’CONNELLS 1-10

Dundalk Gaels gave themselves the chance to return to Division 1 when they defeated 14-man O’Connells at The Grove.

The visitors were two points up through Niall Hearty and David McComish when Cian Doyle was shown a red card. McComish and Ger McSorley added to the Gaels score before Niall Conlon got the home team off the mark with a point from a free.

However, the Dundalk side remained on top and a goal from Sean McCann helped them lead by 1-10 to 0-6.

An O’Connells comeback never looked a realistic prospect and their hopes were all but ended when Oisin Murray added a second goal. Sean Cairns got a consolation goal for the home team but the Gaels ran out easy winners.

DUNDALK GAELS: Joe O’Donoghue; James Lynch, Jamie Faulkner, Mark Hanna; Oisin Murray 1-0, Sean Murray 0-3, Adrian Rafferty 0-1; David Maloney 0-1, Derek Crilly 0-1; Niall Hearty 0-1, David McComish 0-6, Paul McCrave; Eanna McArdle 0-2, Sean McCann 1-2, Gerard McSorley 0-1. Subs: Eamonn Kenny for J Lynch, Jason Clarke for G McSorley, Luke Murray for E McArdle, Errol Boyle for S McCann, John O’Hare for N Hearty.

O’CONNELLS: Stuart Reynolds; Jason Carroll, Conor Byrne, Gary Connolly; Emmet Byrne, Stuart Osborne, Keith Ryan; Ciaran O’Brien, Sean Cairns 1-0; Robert Quigley 0-3, Andrew Sharkey 0-1, Dean Stanfield; Niall Conlon 0-6, Conor Culligan, Cian Doyle. Subs: David Hoey for G Connolly; Paul McKeever for A Sharkey, Conor McGill for P McKeever.

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