Ballyhaise 2-20
Butlersbridge 0-9

Ballyhaise edged closer towards the intermediate championship quarter-finals by dishing out a 17-point hammering to neighbours Butlersbridge in Drumalee on Sunday evening.

Padraig Moore and Martin Conaty (penalty) supplied the goals in the closing quarter for the 2015 champions against a Bridge side which lost ace attacker Caoimhin O'Reilly to a hamstring injury in the first-half.

The sides had been level at the time of the Cavan forward's forced withdrawal before Kevin Tierney's accuracy helped the would-be winners kick on for a six-point lead come the break.

Butlersbridge chased the game well enough right after half-time but their opponents got some distance between them again and once Moore's goal on went in the game was over as a contest.

The teams had been dead even for the opening quarter of an hour with Lorcan Mulvey's well-struck free tying them up on 0-3 apiece and a few minutes later O'Reilly's evening would be cut short, marking a huge blow to the Bridge's attack.

Points from David Brady (2), Moore and Conaty saw some daylight begin to appear and when Moore's second was backed up by Tierney fisting over Darren Fitzpatrick's crossbar the men from Emmet Park looked to be in some bother.

A Tierney free was cancelled out by Jonny Leddy at the far end on the interval's eve but Ciaran O'Malley's men were still in a commanding position, leading 0-10 to 0-4 at the half.

Leddy had the difference down to five thanks to another accurate free early in the restart and the margin would be at four after a pair of Mulvey frees outweighed a brilliant solo effort from Moore.

John Fitzpatrick's pair of points kept the Bridge in the hunt heading for the final quarter but their flood gates opened once Moore got in for goal, as Tierney supplied more points and with a little less than 10 minutes to go the scoreboard was reading 1-15 to 0-9 in Ballyhaise's favour.

Tierney (2) and Moore kept it ticking over until the end too and the victory was emphatically sealed when Conaty smashed home his penalty in the third minute of injury-time.

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