Sarsfields (Kildare) 1-12
St. Patrick's (Louth) 2-6

Sarsfields survived a late scare to overcome a St. Patrick's team that played the entire second half with 14 men at Newbridge.

The visitors had Kevin Toner, who had only just being introduced as a substitute, sent off in the 27th minute following an off-the-ball incident involving Conor Tiernan. Despite their numerical disadvantage, St. Pat's finished the half strongly with full back Dessie Finnegan's superbly-taken goal leaving them just two points adrift, 1-2 to 0-7, at the interval.

But that was as good as it got for the Louth champions, who were outplayed for much of the game by a Sarsfields team who had eight different scorers. However, their manager John Crofton will know that a big improvement will be needed if they're to continue their winning ways against Ballymun Kickhams in the semi-final.

Sarsfields had five points on the board before Daniel O'Connor opened St. Pat's account in the 18th minute. Following the resumption, the Newbridge men pulled clear again with points from Ray Cahill, Matty Byrne and Padraig Brennan.

It looked to be all over bar the shouting when Robbie Confrey netted with five minutes to go, but St. Patrick's kept pulling away and Colin McCann's late goal ensured a nervous finish for the winners.

Sarsfields - P O'Sullivan; S Campbell, C Duffy, S Hurley; C Tiernan (0-1), N O' Callaghan, D McDonnell; M Byrne (0-2), G White (0-1); D McKenna, R Cahill (0-4), D Nea (0-1); P Brennan (0-1), A Smith (0-2), R Confrey (1-0). Subs: C McInerney Aspell for O'Callaghan, C McDonnell for Nea, C Walsh for McKenna, M Browne for Brennan.

St Patrick's - S Connor; J O' Hare, D Finnegan (1-0), D O'Hanlon; E Breen, C Goss, O Zamboglou; P Keenan (0-2), P Mallon; E Carroll (0-2), K White (0-1), A McCann; R Finnegan (0-1), D O' Connor, E O' Connor. Subs: K Toner for McCann, E White for Breen, M Breen for Carroll, C McCann (1-0) for E O'Connor.

Referee - F Kelly. Tweet

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