Emyvale (Monaghan) 5-13
Drumlane (Cavan) 3-7

Emyvale produced the second-half goods to down Drumlane this afternoon and move into the quarter-finals of the Ulster club junior football championship.

The Monaghan champions recovered from a nightmare start in Ballyconnell, where their Cavan counterparts landed 1-1 in the opening two minutes, thanks to goals from Jonathan McCarron (5) and Daniel McMahon (33) to lead by 2-5 to 2-3 at the half.

Philip King’s goal 28 seconds in had handed Drumlane the perfect start but the 7/2 outsiders couldn't kick on, having lost influential midfielder Dane O’Dowd to a hamstring injury, and only ever saw the lead again in first-half injury-time when Fergal Brady latched on to a Ryan Connolly pass and buried the ball to Emyvale's net.

McMahon’s thunderbolt strike right on the eve of half-time was the undoubted score of the game in soaking wet conditions, cancelling Brady's strike almost immediately. Declan Loughman’s charges would hit the net again a mere minute into the restart after Stephen Askin steered home from close range.

County man Ryan McAnespie made it 3-7 to 2-4 with a perfectly stroked point on 37 minutes and the winners were well and truly out of sight by the time David McAlister registered their fourth major before adding another in the added minutes, ensuring a last eight date with Tyrone’s Newtownstewart next weekend.

Emyvale: Gerard McCaffrey; Sean McMeel, Aaron Loughran, Ciaran Connolly; Gregory Devlin, Ryan McAnespie (0-1), Ryan Kelly; Colin Hughes, Stephen Askin (1-0); David McAlister (2-4), Robbie McAlister (0-2), Garreth McQuaid (0-2, 2f); Jonathan McCarron (1-0), Gavin McKernan, Daniel McMahon (1-4, 4f). Subs: Karl McQuaid for J McCarron (47mins), Ben McKenna for R Kelly (51), Paul McCarron for G McKernan (55), Micheál O’Brien for R McAlister (57).

Drumlane: Gareth Corrigan; Declan Lunney, John O’Dowd, Sean Smith; Shane Dolan, Donal Monahan (1-0), Darragh Brady (0-1); Dane O’Dowd (0-1), Kian Monahan; Gary Tubman (0-1), Philip King (1-0), Ciaran Crowe; Ryan Connolly (0-4, 2f), Fergal Brady (1-0), Donal O’Reilly. Subs: Killian Tubman for D O’Dowd (11mins, inj), Conor Connolly for P King (50), Stephen McCann for D O’Reilly (53), James Dolan for G Tubman (55).

Ref: Micheál Moore (Down)

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