St Fechins sent out a strong message to their Intermediate Championship rivals when they began their campaign with a 6-18 to 1-7 win over Roche Emmets at Clan na Gael Park on Friday night.

The Termonfeckin side went into this Group A game under some pressure to live up to their billing as one of the favourites for the Seamus Flood Cup, but coped admirably with a fine performance against a below par Roche Emmets.

The Faughart side had been in good form in the league but found it a big step up against Division 1 opposition, but will be hoping to keep their championship hopes alive when they face Sean O’Mahonys in their next outing.

On the night, St Fechins were in splendid form and some fine approach play was rewarded with some clinical finishing. At half time they were well on their way as they led by 2-10 to 0-5, before adding four further goals in the second half.

Eoghan Duffy showed his eye for goal as he grabbed a hatrick, with Niall Devlin adding a brace and Eoin Hackett chipping in with goal. Dan O’Connell grabbed what proved to be a consolation goal for a disappointed Roche side.

Kilkerley Emmets and Oliver Plunketts played out an exciting draw when they met in Group D of the Intermediate Championship at Darver on Friday night.

A late point from Cian Brady saw the Drogheda men claim a deserved share of the spoils in a game that was on a knife-edge throughout before finishing at 14 points apiece.,

Kilkerley got off the mark through Conor Quigley and led by 0-3 to 0-1 early on only for Niall Murtagh to help get the Plunketts back on terms. Although Tadhg McEnaney added to the Emmets scores, it was the Drogheda men who led by 0-8 to 0-6 at the break thanks to late scores from Robbie Brodigan and Sean Callaghan.

The Plunketts looked to be on course for victory when they went 0-12 to 0-9 at the second water break, but further scores from McEnaney got the teams back on terms. A late point from James Fegan looked to have won it for the Emmets, but Brady had the final say when his pointed free secured a draw.

Young Irelands made an impressive start to their Group B campaign as they secured a comfortable 4-13 to 0-13 win over St Kevins at Stabannon on Friday night.

It was the Kevins who started the brighter of the two teams with early points from Cian Callan giving them the early advantage. However, the Young Irelands came to life at the end of the first quarter when goals from Cian O’Donoghue and Dean Maguire put them 2-2 to 0-4 in front.

The Philipstown side battled back with points from Tom Matthews but a Peter McStravick goal helped the Dundalk men to lead by 3-3 to 0-9 at the break.

The second half saw the Young Irelands pull away with the help of points from Jordan O’Donoghue before a second goal from McStravick sealed an impressive win.

Hunterstown Rovers made the best possible start to the Intermediate Championship when they defeated Cooley Kickhams by 3-7 to 0-13 in Group C at Dowdallshill on Sunday afternoon.

The Mid Louth side have been flying high in Division 2 and continued that form as they underlined their position as one of the favourites for the Intermediate title against a Cooley side who also have ambitions of going all the way.

The opening exchanges were relatively even before Cooley took a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.  Hunterstown made a decisive burst midway through the first half as Dean Burns fired in the first goal of the game before Ryan Burns followed up two minutes later with a second.

Cooley rallied in the closing stages to cut the gap to 2-2 to 0-5 at half time but their hopes suffered another setback when Ryan Burns found the net with the first score of the second half.

Brian White led the charge for Cooley as they tried to fight back but despite his eight points and a brace for Fearghal Malone and Patrick Johnston, it was Hunterstown who held out for victory.

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