Quartet all expecting tough tests in last four

Paul McGrath was the match winner for Belcoo against Maguiresbridge at the weekend and he knows that Irvinestown represent a real live threat; “It will be something new and they will be dangerous and we don’t know much about them but they have been going very well so far.” Turning his attention to the game against Maguiresbridge he expressed more relief than anything with the result; “We were happy enough to come through on the right end of it. We were poor on one hand but they were very good in the first half. With 15 left in the game they were still two up and I couldn’t see where we were going to get the scores from.” But get them they did with McGrath playing an integral part setting up the winning goal with a deft flick; “We had a good few minutes and scored 1-02 and that was the difference. It wasn’t pretty but we are through now.” They will meet an Irvinestown side that is captained by centre half forward Stephen Sheridan and he believes that after a ‘slow start to the league’ that Irvinestown are beginning to find their stride under player manager Shane Goan with victory over Newtownbutler a ‘massive result’.

“We have been targeting it for the last while and it is just good to get over the line. We had a very good first half, we really lifted off in the middle of that first half but we knew they would come back and they did. We weathered it well and got a few scores but they came right back at us and I suppose we were hanging on at the death there.” Looking forward to Belcoo Sheridan believes it will tell his team just where they are at present.

“It is a massive challenge for us and we are looking forward to it. Our aspiration is to get into division one so this will be a good barometer for us.” In the other semi final Teemore will meet neighbours Kinawley. Teemore overcame Lisnaskea over the weekend and Cian McManus explained how they were delighted with the win especially given the Emmett’s fight back; “It was ropey right unto the end there. I think we were the better team but we hit the crossbar twice and Skea were never really buried.” Looking forward to Kinawley McManus believes it will be a close encounter; “Kinawley will be very tight. We played them two weeks ago in Teemore and it was one of the toughest matches we have had this year and it ended up in a draw.” Those sentiments are echoed by Kinawley’s Tomas Corrigan who knows that his side have a tough challenge on their hands.

“I was up at their game against Lisnaskea and they were very comfortable right up until the last minute goal and they are the form side at the moment,” he said before adding, “Looking at four semi finalists every team would have clear ambitions of winning the championship and rightly so.” On his own side’s victory over Enniskillen he felt that six points was a tad large of a margin; “The scoreline flattered us a bit because it was tight up until last five minutes when we got three unasswered points. It wasn’t our best performance but you are always going to get that in first round but we are focusing on Teemore now.”