Arva 1-14
Bailieborough 0-8

Arva are through to the semi-finals of the intermediate championship tonight after securing a comfortable victory over Bailieborough at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Kevin Bouchier struck 0-9 for the winners over the hour as they seized control of this contest from the 10th minute onwards and sealed their victory when centre-forward Jonathan McCabe fired home the game's only goal on 44 minutes.

When these sides met two weeks ago a mere point separated them but on this occasion Peter Reilly's team were able to utilise Bouchier from the start and bring on Conal Sheridan at any earlier stage and Bailieborough, who didn't do themselves justice on the night, simply had no answer to their opponents' firepower.

It wasn't all about the victors' forward play though, as this was a balanced display all over the field from the men from Michael Cully Park and one that should see them restored as favourites for the Tommy Gilroy Cup after a shaky start to the competition.

Brendan Argue's free had the Shamrocks off the mark inside three minutes and they regained their lead when James Fulton curled over another placed ball to erase Bouchier's first of the night.

A fine effort from 40 metres out off the boot of Thomas Brady had the St Patrick's outfit level again and they'd arrive at their first lead when after 11 minutes when Bouchier grabbed possession from similar range and did the rest.

Bailieborough were being smothered by the opposing backs at the far end and some aimless passing played right into the hands of their counterparts. 

Bouchier (free) was backed up by a brace of placed balls from left-footer Conor McEntee and when the former displayed some slick skill to craft out his third point from play Bailieborough looked to be sliding down a slope.

A Brendan Argue free ended a scoring drought which had spanned 20 minutes for the trailers and they could have closed the gap to a goal had Fulton's ambitious effort not dropped wide off the outside of the post.

Arva very nearly left Adrian Lambe's charges with a mountain to climb before half-time when Bouchier was fed through by Jonathan McCabe and possession spilled to Ciaran Brady, who saw his goal effort brilliant turned around the post by former county colleague Conor Gilsenan.

It left last year's beaten finalists with a 0-7 to 0-3 lead to work with for the second-half and in the early stages of the resumption they picked up where they left off with that man Bouchier fisting over in acres of space.

'The Bouchier Show' continued into the 34th minute when the former Cavan U21 star launched over another one off his left on the turn and when Peter Morris registered the Longford border men's 10th point there'd be a seven-point margin between the teams with 20 minutes left.

From there, things went from back to worse for the east siders as Peter Morris and sub Sheridan combined with some soccer-style passing to thread through McCabe and the former 'Junior Player of the Year' made no mistake in finishing past Gilsenan for all three points.

Rhys Clarke sent over the response for Bailieborough prior to sub Darren Brady punching over in effort of a goal, which the Shamrocks were badly in need of. Minutes later Arva 'keeper Richard Keith pulled off heroics to deny them one with 10 minutes left on the clock, which all but sealed the deal in this one.

Two more points from Bouchier (one a free) sealed his exceptional tally for the night and Sheridan made sure of the same margin towards the end, as Arva more than made sure of their place in last four for the second consecutive year.

Arva: Richard Keith; Cormac McCabe, Thomas Brady (0-1), Danny Ellis; Stephen Ellis, James Morris, Conor McEntee (0-2, 2f); Fergal McGlade, Ciaran Brady; Peter Morris (0-1), Jonathan McCabe (1-0), Paul Bouchier; Shane Finnegan, Peter Conneely, Kevin Bouchier (0-9, 3f). Subs: Conal Sheridan (0-1) for P Conneely (36mins), Brian Ellis for J McCabe (45), Shane Hamilton for C McEntee (55), Brian McEntee for F McGlade (58), Ciaran Cooney for P Bouchier (60), Patrick Murtagh for S Ellis (60).

Bailieborough: Conor Gilsenan; Ciaran Reilly, Declan Reilly, Luke Gilsenan; Brendan Argue (0-5, 5f), Aidan Reilly, Philip Clarke; Michael Argue, Peter Clerkin; Rhys Clarke (0-1), Christopher Dunne, Eoin Sullivan; James Fulton (0-1, 1f), Gary Daly, Damien Reilly. Subs: Senan Reilly for C Dunne (30mins), Darren Brady (0-1) for P Clerkin (HT), Conor Tierney for E Sullivan (42), Paul Shalvey for D Reilly (51), Niall Comey for G Daly (56).

Ref: Martin Sexton (Cavan Gaels)

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