Round-up: Ring, Rackard, and Meagher Cup action

Christy Ring Cup

Derry will play in their fourth consecutive Christy Ring Cup decider after they pipped fellow finalists Kerry.

Pádraig Boyle continued his prolific form as Kerry built up a 0-12 to 0-6 half-time lead, but Derry refused to wilt and despite conceding the first two points of the second half, the hosts roared back with seven unanswered scores.

Cormac O’Doherty and Déaglán Foley finished with 0-5 each for Derry, who raced for the win with goals from Shea Cassidy and Joseph Mulholland to advance to their fifth final in six years and set up a rematch with Kerry.

Meath missed out on a place in the top two, despite their win over Donegal in Letterkenny.

Having led by just a single point at the interval (0-8 to 0-7), Meath kicked on in the third quarter, with a goal by sub Darren O’Higgins putting daylight between the teams.

Donegal had a goal-scoring substitute of their own in Ruairí Campbell, with Liam McKinney and Gerard Gilmore also on target for the hosts, but Tom Shine (0-7), Mikey Cole (1-3) and Mark Leavy (0-4) guided Meath to their third win of the campaign. Meath joined Derry on seven points apiece, but finished behind them on score difference.

Wicklow secured their Christy Ring status with a hard-earned win over Roscommon.

A tense battle for most of it left the teams deadlocked well into the second half until Wicklow took charge with a rapid hat-trick of goals from Seánie Germaine, Fionn Darcy and Jack Doyle. Adam Donnelly netted a free late on for Roscommon, but Wicklow’s flurry of scores had done enough to claim a vital win.

Nickey Rackard Cup

Mayo are through to the Nickey Rackard Cup semi-final after a 3-22 to 0-19 win away to Louth.

Goals by Eoin Delaney and Adrian Phillips were the key scores of the opening half as Mayo put themselves in the driving seat. Darren Geoghegan hit nine points as Louth kept battling, but Delaney racked up 2-6 for Mayo, who also had Cormac Phillips in scoring form as they sealed their fourth win of the group stage and set up a clash with last year’s Lory Meagher winners New York.

Tyrone had already qualified for the final, but there was no let-up as they cruised past Armagh in Garvaghey.

Having been in goal-hungry form throughout the campaign, Tyrone rattled the net eight times against their neighbours, including six in the opening 35 minutes. With Tyrone rotating their squad, Liam Griffith took his opportunity to fire in 4-2, while Turlough Mullin added a brace of goals and Lorcan Devlin (1-6) and Kiefer Morgan were also on song.

Sligo wrapped up a strong season at home to Fermanagh with a tenth win from twelve games, even though it wasn’t enough to catch Mayo

Andrew Kilcullen hit 1-14 for Sligo, who controlled proceedings for the most part, leading by 0-16 to 0-7 at the break. Conor Hanniffy and Robert and Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch were also prominent in a fluent Sligo attack; meaning that goals by Tom Keenan and sub Ben Corrigan were little consolation to Fermanagh.

Lory Meagher Cup

Longford will meet neighbours Leitrim in the Lory Meagher Cup Final after they powered past Monaghan.

An Evan Tully goal separated the teams in a first half that ended with Longford leading by 1-6 to 0-7, before the hosts outscored their opponents by 1-7 to 0-1 during the third quarter to take control. David Buckley, Martin Farrell and sub Stephen Murray all hit the net as Longford put the result beyond doubt, despite Monaghan getting a late consolation from Emmett Walsh. Eithan Flynn and Niall Arthur were also among Monaghan's scorers, but they fell well short of the win they needed to overtake Longford for second place.

Leitrim will take a 100% record into the final after they saw off Cavan in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Dhani Keane hit Leitrim's only goal of the game as they built up a comfortable half-time advantage of 1-13 to 0-7. Cavan edged the second half, with Éamon Óg McAllister hitting a consolation goal late on, but Leitrim finished with 11 players on the scoresheet as they extended their winning streak to nine games.

Warwickshire saw out their campaign with a second win as they proved too strong for Lancashire in a high-scoring encounter at Páirc na hÉireann.

RESULTS

Saturday May 16

Christy Ring Cup Round 5

Derry 2-15 Kerry 0-19

Meath 2-18 Donegal 1-16

Wicklow 3-12 Roscommon 1-11

Nickey Rackard Cup Round 5

Tyrone 8-15 Armagh 1-21

Sligo 3-29 Fermanagh 2-10

Mayo 3-22 Louth 0-19

Lory Meagher Cup Round 5

Warwickshire 6-20 Lancashire 4-12

Leitrim 1-23 Cavan 1-16

Longford 4-16 Monaghan 1-14