Butlersbridge 2-17

Drumgoon 2-9

Butlersbridge put one foot into the quarter-finals of the intermediate championship this evening with a resounding win over Drumgoon at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Adrian Delaney's side were full value for their eight-point victory here, with Shane O'Rourke's 21st minute goal helping them seize control in this round two clash before Caoimhin O'Reilly (scorer of 1-5) settled the issue late on for the Bridge.

Drumgoon struggled to deal with their counterparts' slick forwards over the 60 minutes and would have been out of contention for the final quarter of an hour but for two goals from veteran substitute Adrian Crossan which helped to take some tarnish off the final score-line.

Paddy McCabe had the Goonies off the mark inside two minutes and it was the only lead they'd hold in the first-half, with points from O'Reilly and Killian Leddy moving the Bridge in front in the space of 60 seconds.

Drumgoon lost midfield stalwart Michael McDonald to injury soon after and with Killian Leddy and Jonathan Leddy firing over more scores the signs were already beginning to look a bit ominous for the Eamon Dunne's charges at this early stage.

A Keith Fannin free and a '45' from 'keeper Corey Smith was about as good as it was going to get for the men from Boyle Park for the remainder of the half, as Cavan senior Feargal Flanagan did some real damage to them from his full-forward station.

O'Reilly and John Fitzpatrick increased the lead to four and on 21 minutes the Bridge landed a hammer blow which saw Flanagan tipping possession into the path of Shane O'Rourke, who was in the right place at the right time and coolly finished low past Smith.

A sweetly struck 40-metre free from Jonathan Leddy, recently back home from Boston, made it 1-8 to 0-4 in favour of the village men and they'd cancel out two from Fannin (one a free) at the far end through more points from Flanagan for a commanding (and deserved) seven-point lead at the interval.

Fannin and Jonathan Leddy cancelled each other out with frees in the early stages of the resumption prior to Corey Smith sailing over another well-executed '45'.

Fannin drove a goal chance straight down the throat of Gareth Henry soon after and just when the chance looked to have eluded Dunne's men the experienced Crossan came up trumps for them, sending a lofted ball in into the Bridge's net.

O'Reilly (free) and Paddy McCabe traded scores ahead of the former smashing over a fantastic point for the leaders off the back of some nice skill from Darren Reilly down the right flank.

Crossan's second major from another high ball into the square made it a one-point game with 12 minutes to go, but in that remaining time Delaney's men took back control of the game with John Fitzpatrick sending over brace of points and Jonathan Leddy bumping their tally up to 1-16.

Drumgoon lost wing forward Pauric McGorry to a black card in the process of falling four behind again, and it went from bad to worse for them as a superbly worked move saw John Fitzparick and Flanagan combine to send O'Reilly through and the Cavan U21 ace found the bottom corner of the net.

That was game, set and match, as O'Reilly capped off his exceptional display up front with the final score in the added minutes.

Butlersbridge: Gareth Henry; Cahir O'Reilly, Pauric McGearty, Andrew McConnell; Patrick Flynn, Feargal Flanagan (0-3), Shane O'Rourke (1-0); Peter Conaty, Jonathan Leddy (0-4, 2f); Declan Callaghan, John Fitzpatrick (0-3), Killian Leddy (0-2); Caoimhin O'Reilly (1-5, 1f), John Shannon, Karlos Conlon. Subs: Darren Fitzpatrick for J Shannon (36mins), Diarmuid McCorry for S O'Rourke (44), Noel McPhillips for C O'Reilly (55), Liam Canning for D Callaghan (60).

Drumgoon: Corey Smith (0-2, 2 45s); Sean T McGorry, Tommy McKitterick, Martin Fitzpatrick; Dominic Donegan, Barry Cooney, Philip Smith; Eamon McCluskey, Michael McDonald; Paddy Smith (0-1), Conor Moynagh, Pauric McGorry; Killian Moynagh, Keith Fannin (0-4, 3f), Paddy McCabe (0-2). Subs: Adrian Crossan (2-0) for M McDonald (8mins, inj), Conal Farrell for M Fitzpatrick (HT), Sean Smith for P McGorry (53, b/c).

Ref: Jimmy Galligan (Lacken)

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