Hungrier Maguiresbridge cause a bit of a shock against Irvinestown

Irvinestown were arguably the favourites for the Intermediate Championship considering their impressive form in division one this season but they were put to the sword by a hungry and well drilled Maguiresbridge side, who will now meet Belcoo in the semi final.
After the final whistle their manager, Cathal Murphy, was obviously pleased with the way his side had performed;
“It is great to get the win. We lost Sean Corrigan to a black card after 12 minutes and that was a huge blow to us but we kept going and stuck at the task and we played some good football against a good side,” he stated.
Irvinestown player manager Shane Goan, who got his side’s goal on the day but was also dismissed late on, was his usual honest and pragmatic self after the game;
“They wanted it a bit more. It is as simple as that really and when it comes to championship football the team who wants it more normally wins the game and that is what happened. They fully deserved their win and were the better side on the day.”
At the break a single point spared the teams with Irvinestown leading 0-06 to 0-05. The first half, it is fair to say, was not dripping with quality action and both sides looked a little nervous at times.
Sean Corrigan had started the game in splendid form for the Bridge and had two points to his name inside ten minutes, one from play and one from a free but his afternoon was cut short when he was adjudged to have pulled down his marker.
The brandishing of the black card could have had a devastating effect on the Bridge given both the leadership qualities and ability of Corrigan but they stuck to their task, and none more so than his brother Ciaran who had an excellent duel with Goan over the course of the hour.
For Irvinestown Gary Maguire and Ronan Ormsby were the scorers in chief in the opening half and after Corrigan’s early bath Daniel Teague picked up most of the scoring for Maguiresbridge.
The Bridge were the better of the two sides after the break and had quick scores from Rory Porteous and David Teague as they took the lead.
After that the sides traded scores with James Duffy coming more into the play for Irvinestown and he landed a brace of scores with Maguire and Ormsby doing the honours from placed balls.
The game’s opening goal came with Maguiresbridge a point to the good and it put Irvinestown back into the lead.
A flowing move initiated by Joey Miller in defence saw the ball worked to Duffy who offloaded to the onrushing Goan who finished with aplomb.
That score looked to be the turning point but Ciaran Corrigan struck for a vital point on the next play and just the minimum separated the sides again. And then came what was to be the winning goal when influential midfielder Ryan Hyde strode forward to get on the end of a move before firing home.
The score put two between the sides and although Irvinestown registered another white flag in injury time Maguiresbridge held out for a deserved win. The Division Two outfit now take on Belcoo and Murphy is looking forward to the challenge;
“It is another Division One team but that is good in a way. We want to be playing at that standard and it will be another good test and I know already the players will be looking forward to it.”