Edendork and Eglish into the Intermediate semis

INTERMEDIATE Championship joint favourites Edendork and Eglish both cruised into the last four of the Paddy Cullen Cup with impressive victories in their respective quarter-finals on Saturday afternoon at wind-swept Coalisland.

Edendork got the better of a battling Beragh side 2-17 to 0-14, with James Fearon and Niall Morgan their first half goalscorers.

Despite playing into the stiff breeze in the first period the St Malachy’s led 2-8 to 0-8 at half-time, with their captain Darren McCurry and Harry Og Conlan leading the way in the scoring stakes.

Conor Owens and Martin Rodgers helped to keep the Red Knights in contention with several fine points at the other end.

To their credit Beragh continued to plug away after the interval but they were never able to eat into the deficit, and Conlon rounded off a fine individual display with six points to his name.

The conditions also had a big bearing on the first match at Fr Peter Campbell Park. Eglish, played into the wind in the first half, and were hugely reliant on the sharp-shooting skills of Conor McKenna who struck for five points before the short-whistle.

Opponents Rock led 1-7 to 0-7 at half-time with Aidan McGarrity drilling home a wonderful goal in the 30^th minute and Liam Nugent and Enda McWilliams tagging on points.

However the League champions Eglish really upped their game after the break and when Conor McKenna’s 50m free sailed all the way to the Rock net in the 35^th minute the momentum had shifted firmly in their favour.

Ethan Jordan’s injury time goal on the counter-attack sealed the 2-15 to 1-9 victory for the ‘men in black’.

They will now meet Edendork in next weekend’s IFC semi-final.

Meanwhile Stewartstown were given the fright of their lives in the quarter-finals of the Junior Championship before prevailing against a gallant Drumquin 1-19 to 2-13 after extra-time in Augher.

The double chasing Harps led for most of the way, on the back of a healthy scoring contribution from Gareth Devlin and a Shea O’Neill goal.

However Sean McDonagh’s late goal sparked an amazing turnaround with Drumquin leading in injury time, before points from Macauley Quinn and Gareth Devlin rescued Stewartstown.

They stretched away in extra-time and a second Drumquin goal from was a mere consolation for the dogged Wolfe Tones.