Cortown 2-13 Boardsmill 2-05

Cortown recovered from a slow start to comfortably dispose of Boardsmill in the finish to seal a Semi-Final place in the Junior B Championship for the second consecutive year.

A sloppy defensive lapse led to Stevie Gibbons intercepting and lobbing over to helpless Colm McGearty after just a minute. Hugh Staunton did manage to settle a shell-shocked Cortown 4 minutes later with an expertly hit '45.

Gibbons again reestablished the three point lead for the 'The Mill' with a well-taken score. Tommy Smith replied for Martin McGovern's charges following some neat interplay between Staunton and Decky Coyne.

Staunton was cynically pulled down and converted the resulting free to narrow the gap to one. Once again a mishap in the Cortown defence caused all sorts of problems with former County man Danny Dixon blasting into the roof of the net.

The riposte came in the form of Staunton who pointed with his weaker left boot. Staunton continued his fine form with a brace of quickfire frees to narrow things to a solitary point again with 25 on the clock.

Brían Smith improvised well at the back post to level the sides at half time and leave things finely poised at 2-01 to 0-7.

Stevie Gibbons restored Boardsmill's lead 10 minutes into the second half with a punted effort. Tommy Smith equalised with a close range free for a tug on Staunton. From the resultant kick-off Brían Smith fired over to put Cortown in front for the first time at 0-9 to 2-2.

Again Dixon would draw the sides level with a free from distance entering the final quarter. Tommy Smith was denied by the upright but Colm Kerrigan, fresh from his introduction was first to the rebound to edge Cortown in front once again.

A mazy run from Brían Smith and a pinpoint finish stretched the lead to two. Once more Dixon was on hand to respond for the men in blue with a terrific free from distance. Oisin Smith marked his arrival with an exhibition ball following good work Daragh Smith and a magnificent ball from big bad Stevie Clarke.

The decisive score arrived with two minutes of normal time remaining. Staunton and Kerrigan combined to find Tommy Smith who fired home. Smith tapped over another free for yet another pull-down by Boardsmill, this time on Mikey Rennicks. Brían Smith rounded off the win following up on Tommy Smith's rebounded effort off the Boardsmill netminder.

Cortown must recover quickly from this physical encounter for a battle against fellow North Meath rivals Moynalty in the last four of the Championship on Thursday evening.

Cortown: Colm McGearty; Barry Canning, Decky Clarke, Josh Keating; Charlie Smith, Daragh O'Halloran, Daragh Smith; Stevie Clarke, Declan Coyne; Elliot Reilly, Brían Smith (1-3), Kevin Muldoon; Hugh Staunton (0-4, one '45, two frees), Tommy Smith (1-3, two frees), Theo Staunton.

Subs: Mikey Rennicks for O'Halloran, Colm Kerrigan (0-1) for Coyne, Oisin Smith (0-1) for Reilly, John McGearty for T Staunton, Mickey Costello for T Smith

Referee: Peter Skelly (St Brigid's)

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