St. Patrick's 0-07

Tempo Maguires 1-11

Tempo Maguires edged themselves ever closer to safety on Sunday as they secured a seven point victory over St. Patrick's. However, the defeat leaves the Donagh men right in the mire at the bottom of the table as the season draws to a close.

The Maguires had suffered defeat in their last outing against Belcoo but manager Colm Bradley was delighted with the manner of their response on Sunday although he warns that they are not safe just yet.

“It was probably our best performance of the year in terms of concentration and commitment and application. I was really very impressed with how the players responded to defeat to Belcoo. But it is not over yet and we need one more win and we aim to finish the season strongly,” said Bradley.

St. Pat's manager Fergal Wray knows that his side must produce a strong finish to the season if they are to give themselves a chance of avoiding relegation to Division Two.

“This was always going to be a battle as all the sides in the bottom five are so evenly matched but the simple fact is that we need to win our last two games, that's the bottom line. All we can focus on is taking maximum points from those games and hope that it is enough to keep us in the division,” he said.

On Sunday's clash, he added: “Given the conditions, it was never going to be a high scoring game so it was important that we made the most of the chances we created but we didn't do that. We missed too many chances and at times we took the wrong options and we were made to pay for this.”

Tempo opted to play Damian Kelly at full forward and this worked a treat for the away side with Kelly a constant thorn in the side for St. Pat's.

The county man kicked five points from play over the hour while he was also fouled for a couple of converted frees.

Tempo started the brighter and opened an early advantage as Kelly and Niall McCusker rattled over points.

By the interval though only two points divided the sides with Tempo holding a two point lead, 0-07 to 0-05.

Thomas Campbell banged over a super point for Tempo during the half while Eamon Maguire, Gary Maguire, Paul Og O'Reilly and Fergal Reilly notched points for the home side who had by this stage dropped a sweeper in front of Kelly.

And St. Pat's could have been even better placed at the break but Fergal Reilly was denied a goal by a fine save by Mattthew Jackson in the Tempo goal.

The second half continued to be nip and tuck with Jason Cadden and Maguire slotting over for St. Pat's but with Campbell, Kelly and McElroy tagging on points, the Maguires were always able to keep their noses in front.

And the away side were to finish the game the stronger with Niall McCusker ensuring the victory for Tempo five minutes from time when he bagged the only goal of the game, following up to slot home after his flicked effort had been saved by the St. Pat's goalkeeper.