Drumlane 2-13
Mountnugent 1-10

Barry Cunningham and Ryan Connolly combined for 2-8 to help sink Mountnugent and send Drumlane through to the first round of the intermediate championship this evening at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The victors recovered from the early blow of conceding a fourth minute goal from Graham Patterson by seeing Cunningham net four minutes later and with Connolly in form they marched towards a three-point lead at the interval.

In the second-half, Drumlane flew out of the traps, kicking the first three scores and once Cunningham snuck in for his second major in the 47th minute their place in the next round was sealed.

It only took Connolly less than a minute to open the winners' account but the Milltown men would be rocked momentarily when they failed to clear a David Givney free, allowing full-forward Patterson to fist to the net.

It took Drumlane all of four minutes to recover as Daryl McNulty found Cunningham inside and the veteran forward lashed the ball to the roof of Jonathan Givney's net. Cunningham and Connolly followed up with quick scores to stretch their side's lead to three, but some decent work from county star Givney set-up Ronan Caffrey to keep the Meath border men in touch.

Ciaran Caffrey landed a fine score moments later, which was immediately cancelled out by Connolly down the other end as Mountnugent were struggling to pin down the speedy Cavan minor star.

A slick gather and turn saw Liam Hennessy tap over his first to make it a one-point game again, but Drumlane finished the half in decent fashion raising three white flags via Daragh Brady, Cunningham and Connolly (free) to outweigh a single from Adam Patterson, leaving the score at 1-7 to 1-4 in their favour.

Dane O'Dowd set the tone from the second-half throw-in when his blistering run was sent through by Cunningham and the former county senior slotted over. The west Cavan men started to find their rhythm after that with Stephen McCann floating over off his trusty left boot and Padraig Leddy backing it up with an over from his full-forward station.

Stephen Smith launched a long-range point to try and stem the tide for last year's beaten junior finalists, but through Connolly Drumlane kept them at a distance as he slotted over two (one free) before Leddy put Cunningham through for his second goal to all but end the game as a contest.

To their credit, Mountnugent never gave up the battle and rattled off the next three scores through Ciaran Caffrey (free), Stephen Smith and David Givney - now operating at full-forward - before Caffrey notched two more to leave a nervy finish.

However, an outstanding point from JP Kelly down the other end assured Drumlane of their place in the first round proper, consigning Mountnugent to the backdoor system.

Drumlane: Darren Murphy; Francis Lunney, John O'Dowd, Donal O'Reilly; JP Kelly (0-1), Glenn Fitzpatrick, Daragh Brady (0-1); Dane O'Dowd (0-1), Ciaran Crowe; Daryl McNulty, Paul Kelly, Stephen McCann (0-1); Ryan Connolly (0-6, 2f), Padraig Leddy (0-1), Barry Cunningham (2-2). Subs: Gary Tubman for McNulty (29mins), Brendan O'Reilly for P Kelly (43), Philip King for McCann (53).

Mountnugent: Jonathan Givney; Ronan Kearney, Thomas Brady, Kevin Plunkett; Adam Patterson (0-1), Stephen Smith (0-2), Eoghan Smith; Ciaran Caffrey (1-4, 1f), David Givney (0-1); Daniel Harte, Ronan Caffrey (0-1), Reamon Finnegan; Barry O'Reilly, Graham Patterson, Liam Hennessy (0-1). Subs: Thomas McCabe for Eoghan Smith (40mins), Mark Rehill for B O'Reilly (44), Joey Adams for Plunkett (47), Eurick Reilly for Hennessy (49).

Ref: Ciaran McCaffrey Tweet

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