Annaghmore (Armagh) 1-9
Kill (Cavan) 0-9

Annaghmore booked their place into the last four of the Ulster club junior football championship this afternoon with a laboured victory over Cavan champions Kill at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Dessie McCormack's team recovered from letting an early 0-4 to nothing advantage slip to just one point by half-time and were fired up again for the second-half, landing a crucial blow in the 40th minute when talisman John McCormack netted the game's only goal.

Kill, who started without their key player Sean Gaffney, who had been so salient for them in last month's county final win over Arva, looked lethargic for large portions of this contest and failed to get on the scoreboard until the 18th minute after which Gaffney was introduced.

Having reduced their arrears to one by the interval, the home side looked set to carry the fight to the Armagh men in the second-half but couldn't handle their opponents' livewire forwards as McCormack, Ciaran MacLomhair and Oisin MacLomhair inflicted irreversible damage.

Both sides were rusty from their respective final wins last month and it showed as it took 10 minutes for the first score to arrive via a 30-metre free from John McCormack which nudged Annaghmore into their first lead. The wing forward doubled the advantage two minutes later from a similar position and when Ciaran MacLomhair burst through Kill's centre for an over the Cavan side looked to be in danger of being overrun.

The hosts fluffed a glorious goal chance on the quarter hour mark after a miscommunication between the two McCaffreys (Conor and Niall) and they'd be four behind after straying a side-line ball into the path of Oisin MacLomhair, who had the simple tasking of tapping over unmarked.

Kill eventually raised their first white flag in the 18th minute from a Anthony Brady free after the full-forward's fisted effort rebounded off the crossbar and was lifted off the ground by an Annaghmore defender just outside the square.

Barry McLoughlin introduced talisman Gaffney to the fray soon after and the captain injected some much needed life into his team with Conor and Niall McCaffrey sending over scores within a minute of each other to trim the difference to one.

The visitors hit back with midfielder Daniel McQuaid clipping over off the post at the other end, before a close range Pearse McKenna free closed the half at 0-5 to 0-4 in favour of the Armagh men.

McQuaid's second point saw Annaghmore pick up where they left off in the early stages of the resumption and by the 40th minute they began doing some real damage which threatened to put their opponents out of contention. After some brilliant work by Michael McQuaid and Micheál McConville, Ciaran MacLomhair was released down the left and worked the ball into an unmarked McCormack, who palmed to the net.

Gary Tiernan got the Shamrocks off the hook moments later with a brave block on Oisin MacLomhair and it provided them with a bit of momentum as Conor McCaffrey and Brady (free) narrowed the deficit down to a goal.

McKenna (free) and Oisin MacLomhair exchanged points to keep the difference at three as the game entered a nervy last five minutes, where the visitors ensured there'd be no concession of a goal and held on for a deserved victory.

Annaghmore: Matthew McNiece; Jamie McDonald, Stephen McConville, Patrick McQuaid; Michael McNiece, Shane Smyth, Shey Reavie; Michael McQuade, Daniel McQuad (0-2); Micheal McConville, Owen McCormack, John McCormack (1-4, 4f); Ciaran MacLomhair (0-1), Oisin MacLomhair (0-2), Conor McCann. Subs: Paul Cullen for M McNiece (35min), Shane McGeown for O McCormack (42), Daniel McGilly for M McQuaid (52), Matthew Willis for C McCann (59), Nathan McGilly for S Smyth (60).

Kill: Gary Tiernan; Donal Kissane, Barry McMenamin, Ciaran O'Reilly; Shane Tiernan, Ray Magee, Damian Foster; Liam Gaffney, Liam Keane; Conor McCaffrey (0-2), Pearse McKenna (0-2, 2f), Darragh McMenamin; Niall McCaffrey (0-1), Anthony Brady (0-4, 4f), Damien O'Brien. Subs: Sean Gaffney for D McMenamin (18mins), Aaron McIntyre for S Tiernan (28), Kevin O'Reilly for N McCaffrey (45), Kevin Pritchard for R Magee (46), Luke O'Brien for L Gaffney (48).

Ref: Niall Cullen (Fermanagh) Tweet

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