Irvinestown 0-11 Lisnaskea 1-07

Irvinestown sealed their place in the quarter-finals of the Intermediate Championship with a battling one point victory over Lisnaskea last Sunday, with the result also ensuring Skea will finish bottom of Group B and play in the relegation play-off.

It was a sense of relief for Irvinestown manager Francie Ward following the victory especially with a number of players missing for the final group game against St. Pat’s this weekend.

“Lucky to get out of it,” said Ward.

“Glad to have a a big championship game at home for the first time in probably 30 years maybe and to get a positive reaction after the Tempo game was a big bonus for us.

“The boys really stood up and were counted for considering we were missing three or four.”

But Ward knows Skea will rue the missed opportunities they had throughout the game: “Skea probably feel they have left it behind them with the opportunities they had. We just had a better conversion rate on the day.”

Looking ahead to St. Pat’s, Ward will use the game to use more players giving the absence of regulars: “It will make us have to give boys an opportunity and it will give some boys a rest in the legs who have played a lot of football over the last 10-12 weeks.

“It will be a chance to look at a few other boys or look at a different formation or two for further down the championship road.”

Ward’s counterpart, John Reihill expressed his disappointment on the loss in such a close game: “A big disappointment for all after putting in a lot of effort into game. Unfortunate nothing to play for in our last game and we await our opponents in the relegation play off which is going to be another very tough game.”

There was little to separate the sides in the opening 30 minutes with the first score of the game coming after 10 minutes courtesy of a free from Gary Maguire followed up with a Ronan Ormsby free to put Irvinestown ahead.

But Skea responded with two scores from Damien Óg Kelly, one from a mark and one from play.

Ormsby and Maguire restored the Irvinestown lead as the half moved into the closing stages, 0-04 to 0-02.

However, Skea were given a huge boost when Aidan Keenan found the net to put his side in front before Stephen Sheridan and Justy McDade swapped points.

The final score of the half came from a Maguire free to leave it 0-06 to 1-03 at the break.

Irvinestown were quick off the mark in the second half with points from Sheridan and Kevin McDonnell but Hayden Lynch responded for Skea, 0-08 to 1-04.

Scoring was at a premium for both sides throughout the half but with five minutes to play Irvinestown were in front thanks to Maguire and Ormsby scores.

The visitors did not give up and Lynch, Ethan McCaffrey and Sean Keenan brought the sides level, 0-10 to 1-07.

It was Irvinestown who would grab the win when Sheridan burst past three Skea defenders before firing over from 35 yards.

There was one final chance for Skea from a 45 right at the death but McCaffrey’s effort tailed wide as Irvinestown held on.