Arva 0-14
Shercock 1-10

Arva advanced to their fourth consecutive championship final tonight by edging Shercock in a full-blooded intermediate semi-final a Kingspan Breffni Park.

In the end, a run of six unanswered points in the closing 17 minutes of regulation were what made the difference for Peter Reilly's men as they turned around an early six-point deficit and survived a late scare which included a Killian Clarke goal in the fifth minute of injury-time - after which all hell broke loose.

Arva had trailed by 0-7 to 0-1 after the first 16 minutes of this contest, with Clarke and Niall Clerkin fine form early on for their opponents, but managed to narrow down the difference to one and only trailed by two at the half.

Last year's beaten finalists kicked on in the second-half, dominating large portions at both ends, which allowed old reliables Kevin Bouchier (0-5) and Jonathan McCabe (0-2) to step up to the plate for them, reversing the result of these two sides' last championship semi-final meeting in 2011 in the junior section.

Having won the battle, the only downside for Arva now is that they will be without instrumental defender James Morris for next month's final against Killinkere after the centre-back was red-carded by referee Noel Mooney in injury-time.

Ciaran Brady sailed over the winners' first point after 18 seconds but it was the men from the Monaghan border that ended up owning the opening quarter, with two points (one a free) from Niall Clerkin steering them into their first lead by the sixth minute.

Clarke and Clerkin (free) doubled the leaders' tally and the Michael Cully Park men looked to be in some trouble when the former stroked over a '45' with expertise, with scores from Philip and Niall Clerkin to follow.

A sorely needed free from Conal Sheridan made it 0-7 to 0-2 and from the 20-minute until half-time the 2014 junior champions discovered a bit of form.

Bouchier announced his arrival in the game with a fine score prior to Shane McPhillips having a goal chance, which flew over, sandwiched by two coolly stroked Sheridan frees.

Thomas Brady found Sheridan in space to loop over his first from play and when Bouchier burst through a narrow gap in the Shercock defence he crashed the ball over Colin Courtney's crossbar, making it a one-point game in the added minutes before John McEnroe closed the half at 0-9 to 0-7.

McEnroe would be the first dismissal of the night on a black card in the early stages of the restart, forcing an introduction for Gary Smith, as Arva came back within a point a minute into the resumption thanks to a terrific score from Peter Conneely.

Sub Smith hit back for Francis McPhillips' men but by the final quarter mark the game was level through points from McCabe and Conor McEntee (free).

McCabe steered the Longford/Leitrm border outfit in front a minute later and, in plain truth, they won the game from there with Bouchier landing their next three scores (one from a 45) to punish their opponents' lack of bite up front which had spanned the best part of 40 minutes since their bright start.

Bouchier got black carded on the hour for a drag down on former Cavan U21 team mate Clarke, and as Shercock hunted for their required late goal the hits began to really go in and things boiled towards the finish.

The aforementioned Morris would pay the heaviest price for his part, which saw him cited by an umpire and issued a straight red card, ruling him out of next month's final barring a turnover on appeal.

Smith and fellow substitute Andrew Culleton would also see red as Shercock gained a lifeline in between through Clarke's free which was drilled through a wall of Arva defenders and into the back of the net.

Despite winning the resultant kick-out from Richard Keith, Shercock got turned over around the middle and Ciaran Brady nabbed the last piece of possession before being taken down just prior to the final whistle - and afterwards some nasty scenes followed.

Arva: Richard Keith; Cormac McCabe, Thomas Brady, Danny Ellis; Stephen Ellis, James Morris, Conor McEntee (0-1, 1f); Brian McEntee, Ciaran Brady (0-1); Peter Morris, Jonathan McCabe (0-2), Conal Sheridan (0-4, 3f); Shane Finnegan, Peter Conneely (0-1), Kevin Bouchier (0-5, 1 '45'). Subs: Ryan McGahern for C McCabe (28mins, inj), Brian Ellis for P Conneely (56), Shane Hamilton for K Bouchier (60, b/c).

Shercock: Colin Courtney; Shane Clarke, Liam Og O'Reilly, Dean O'Reilly; Damien McIntyre, Brian Sankey, Colin Clerkin; Philip Clerkin (0-1), Mark McKeown; Lee Clarke, Killian Clarke (1-2, 1 '45', 1f), Ryan Clerkin; Niall Clerkin (0-4, 2f), Shane McPhillips (0-1), John McEnroe (0-1). Subs: Paddy McPhillips for M McKeown (35mins, inj), Gary Smith (0-1) for J McEnroe (37, b/c), Kenny Burns for R Clerkin (40), Michael McEneaney for D McIntyre (47), Andrew Culleton for S McPhillips (55),

Ref: Noel Mooney (Cavan Gaels)

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