Cortown 1-06 Carnaross 0-8

It may not have been for the purists but the big crowd that descended on Cortown on Thursday night were treated to an almighty battle that had everyone's undivided attention until the bitter end.

By virtue of topping their group, Cortown had the benefit of home advantage which proved decisive. The sides met in last years competition and could not be separated on that occasion so everything pointed towards an equally tight tussle this time around.

It was the home side who made the better start on a calm night and kicked the first two scores of the contest, both from the right boot of Oisin Smith off placed-balls. The first was actually a penalty which was skied over the crossbar by the Trim Celtic man after Mikey Rennicks had got clattered from Ross netminder Conor Kenny. The second was a smartly taken free and Cortown led by two after 5 minutes.

The visitors gradually warmed to their task however and would kick five out of the next six scores to wrestle the initiative off their hosts. Cortown did have several opportunities in this time but Kenny stood firm on these occasions, a monster score from Mossy Plunkett the highlight during this time.

The quality of Paddy McDermott was evident as his rasping shot was touched over by the fingertips of Colm McGearty at the expense of a point. However, in general Cortown were well set up defensively and tackling with a great level of intensity. Davy Rispin posted the final score of the opening period from a free to narrow the deficit to two at the interval, 0-3 to 0-5.

The closely fought nature of the game continued into the second half with Theo Staunton, Daragh Smith, Luca Brady and Rennicks all excelling throughout the field.

After Smith was blocked down from close range, McGearty wound up from the resulting 45' with his effort just falling short but a deft flick from Rispin had the ball in the back of the Carnaross net and Cortown led again.

Smith tapped over a free before he was issued with a black card and Martin McGovern's charges reduced to 14 men for a 10 minute spell. The workrate was ferocious from the men in yellow with Ciaran Keating, Daragh O'Halloran, Hugh Staunton and Charlie Smith all making vital contributions.

The away side did restore parity through a superb McDermott effort but Cortown weren't to be denied. Rennicks blasted over from close range and a Rispin free had Cortown two to the good again.

Carnaross replied courtesy of a dubious free but Smith reintroduced following his black card, tapped over to add a cushion once more. McDermott converted an acute free but Cortown battened down the hatches and thanks to valuable contributions from the likes of Stevie Clarke and Brían Smith, held firm for a memorable win.

Cortown face a heavy fixture schedule between first and second team League's in the coming weeks pitted with a final against either Kilmainhamwood and Moynalty sandwiched in-between in a fortnight's time but they'll approach these with a fair degree of confidence on the back of this success.

Cortown: Colm McGearty; Micky Costello, Theo Staunton, Barry Canning; Daragh Smith, Charlie Staunton, Ciaran Keating; Daragh O'Halloran, Luca Brady; Elliot Reilly, Hugh Staunton, Mikey Rennicks (0-1); Davy Rispin (1-2 two frees), Tommy Smith, Oisin Smith (0-3 two frees one pen).

Subs: Stevie Clarke for O'Halloran, Brían Smith for T Smith, Ivor O'Halloran for Reilly, John McGearty for Keating.

Referee: Raymond Tynan (Virginia)

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