St Pat's 2-14 Lisnaskea 2-10

Two goals from Brian McDermott helped fire St. Pat's into the semi-final of the Kevin Courtney Garage Intermediate Football Championship in Derrylin on Saturday.

In this derby encounter, it was Lisnaskea who held the upperhand on the scoreboard in the first half as they led 1-07 to 0-07, Hayden Lynch's goal proving the difference between the sides at the midway stage of the tie.

However, St. Pat's hit back with a McDermott goal and when the Donagh side then tagged on a string of points they moved clear.

McDermott then netted for a second time to put eight between them and although Niall McElroy grabbed a late goal for Lisnaskea it was only a consolation effort as St. Pat's marched into the semi-finals and a meeting with Irvinestown.

St. Pat's manager Sean Maguire felt his side did not perform in the first half and was satisfied to only be three behind the Emmetts at the break.

“We were happy enough to go in three points down at the break because we didn’t feel that we had played well. They got a lot of men behind the ball but we played poorly and we knew that both as individuals and as a team we have to up our performance a lot," he said.

And a couple of substitutions in the second half helped swing things in St. Pat's favour, according to Maguire.

“The turning of the game was the double substitution that we made. We brought on two experienced players in Pat Grue and Ryan Daly and they made a big difference to us.

"And we also kept it wider in the second half and that helped us. But the bottom line is that we just played better," he explained.

Next up for the Donagh men is a clash with Irvinestown and it is a side that Maguire holds in great regard.

“I would rate Irvinestown very highly. Both times we played them this year there was very little between the teams. They are a team who when at their best are very very good.”

The game will also be another all Division One clash for St. Pat's although Maguire feels that there is not a big gap between the Division One and Division Two teams competing for the Intermediate Championship title.

“You look at the teams in Division Two and see how Enniskillen did against Kinawley and you can see that the teams in Division Two are very capable too.”

Saturday's game was a repeat of last year's semi-final which Lisnaskea won and they landed the first score of the game when Daniel Kille slotted over a free.

St. Pat's though responded and three points from play from Pat Cadden edged them ahead while they were then denied a goal when Sean Daly's effort hit the woodwork,

At the other end, Lisnaskea were close to finding the net but Paul Curran's effort was pushed over the bar by St. Pat's goalkeeper Michael McGrade.

It was tit for tat after this, McDermott pointing for St. Pat's before Kille and Kevin Smyth fired over to level things at 0-04 apiece.

St. Pat's moved back ahead with Cadden and Cameron McBrien the scorers but this was followed by the key score of the half as Lynch got on the end of a flowing move to tuck the ball to the net.

Paul Cosgrove answered for St. Pat's to tie things up at 1-04 to 0-07 but Lisnaskea finished the half strongly with Niall McElroy, Kille and Lynch clipping over points to put them three ahead at the break.

Indeed, the advantage was stretched to four on the resumption as Mark Little rattled over a point for the Emmetts but following this St. Pat's began to take control.

They cut the deficit back to the minimum when McDermott found the net after good work by McBrien and four points on the bounce from Cadden (3) and Eamon Maguire pushed them into a 1-11 to 1-08 lead.

Lisnaskea closed back to within two points when Lynch converted a free but St. Pat's remained in firm control and when McBrien, Maguire and Thomas Cadden tagged on points they moved into a five point lead.

And then they delivered the decisive blow as McDermott forced the ball home from close range.

Lisnaskea did continue to battle and Kille landed a point before Niall McElroy netted but the game was out of their reach as St. Pat's finished up four point victors, 2-14 to 2-10.