Clonaslee through to Intermediate final with win over Mountmellick

Clonaslee St Manman's booked their place in the Laois Intermediate football final with a win over Mountmellick at O'Moore Park tonight.

Clonaslee St Manman's 2 - 8

Mountmellick 1 - 4

Laois Shopping Centre Intermediate Football Championship Semi-Final

In a game where Mountmellick failed to register a score until the 30-minute mark, having kicked seven wides and dropping a couple short up to that point, they drew level with fifteen minutes to go before Clonaslee kicked on in the final minutes.

While not exactly dominating the play themselves, Clonaslee St Manman's drew six points ahead in the opening 17 minutes. 

Clonaslee's chief scorer this season, Niall Corbet, opened the scoring five minutes in with a well-taken score from play before converting a free minutes later to double their advantage.

Laois U20 panelist Jack Owens extended their lead to three points, and then the first goal of the day arrived. Bob Downey played it through to Cian Barrett who cooly slotted his shot beneath Mountmellick goalkeeper Eoghan Keogh to put them six points ahead. 1-3 to 0-0.

Clonaslee St Manman's looked dangerous too, Niall Corbet and Bob Downey both seeing shots denied by the Mountmellick defence. 

Right on the stroke of half-time, with Mountmellick looking set to enter the dressing rooms scoreless, Jason Caffrey's shot which looked to be dropping short found its way to the back of net after goalkeeper Barry Kelly misjudged the flight of the ball. 

The half-time whistle followed shortly after to send Clonaslee St Manman's in ahead 1-4 to 1-0 after an underwhelming opening half of football.

Niall Mullen and Glen McEvoy traded points in the early minutes of the half, before a ten minute drought resulted in Mullen's second of the evening. 

With fifteen minutes to go Mountmellick drew level with goalkeeper Eoghan Keogh coming forward to slot a 45 to set up an interesting final quarter.

Despite Mountmellick's best efforts, that was to be there final score of the game as Clonaslee found their rhythm once more to fire 1-4 in the final minutes, substitute Sean Dunne coming off the bench to kick 1-1 as Clonaslee advance to the final.

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*See Tuesday's Leinster Express Sport for full coverage

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CLONASLEE ST MANMAN'S

Scorers: Sean Dunne 1-1, Niall Corbet 0-3 (0-1 free, 0-1 ’45), Cian Barrett 1-0, Glen McEvoy, Sean Condon and Jack Owens 0-1 each. 

Team: Barry Kelly; Mark McEvoy, Ger Reilly, John Rigney; Diarmuid Conroy, Liam Senior, Jack Owens; Seamus Rosney, Will Young;  Glen McEvoy, Niall Corbet, Niall Hogan; Robert Downey, Paddy Hyland, Cian Barrett. Subs: Sean Condon for Rosney (35 mins), Ryan Kilroe for Downey (45 mins), Sean Dunne for Hogan (51 mins), Michael Hyland for G McEvoy (57 mins), Oisin Murray for Barrett (60 mins).

MOUNTMELLICK

Scorers: Jason Caffrey 1-0, Niall Mullen 0-3 (frees), Eoghan Keogh 0-1 ('45).

Team: Eoghan Keogh; Laurence Kenny, Gearoid Hanrahan, Cian Thompson; Ben Forde, Mark Dowling, Redmond McEvoy;  Steve Lynch, Colm Coss; Karl Donoher, Jason Caffrey, Bernard Rochford; Darren Fitzpatrick, Niall Mullen, Darragh Hanlon. Subs: Curtis Lee for Hanlon (27 mins), Donnacha Hartnett for Rochford (38 mins), Eoin George for Donoher (42 mins), Gary Dowling for Coss (BC, 63 mins).

REFEREE: Brendan Hickey (Graiguecullen)