St. Paul’s book place in semi-finals

St. Paul’s, following their hard fought win over Keady, are the first local side to reach the Intermediate Championship semi-finals.

This weekend Clan na Gael, Wolfe Tones and Tir na Nog are all fancied to make it through to the last four which would make the semi-final pairings very interesting indeed.

The Saints win last weekend was tainted somewhat considering wing back Declan Haughey suffered a broken leg during the game. His team mates rallied despite a slow start to win by three points at the finish.

It is believed that former County Minor player Andy Murnan may play a role in the semi-final, he was in the squad last weekend but didn’t make an appearance, the midfielder is recovering from a troublesome hamstring injury which has resulted in the Lurgan man playing only a handful of games over the past two seasons.

Team captain Ciaran Nash made a welcome return to the line-out on Sunday and his brother Peadar was one of the best players on show over the hour. In the win special praise should be given to the hard working Charlie Harte, Phelim O’Neill and in particular Chris Lavery who also was exceptional against Eire Og in the opening round.

St. Paul’s fought back from being 0-07 to 0-04 down to dominate the second half, the Teghnevan men considering the opposition would possibly still be one of the outsiders for the Intermediate series irrespective of which sides win in the weekends remaining quarter-finals.