Round-up: Weekend's Ring, Rackard, and Meagher Cups action

The Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meagher Cup finalists have been decided after the last round of the groups took place on Saturday.

Christy Ring Cup

Derry and London will contest the Christy Ring Cup Final after their convincing wins.

Derry are through to their fourth decider in five years after they overpowered previously-unbeaten Wicklow at Celtic Park.

Wicklow went into the last round in pole position on seven points from a possible eight, but they would end up being overtaken for second on score difference by London after their excellent run of form was ended in some style by Derry, who led by 1-13 to 0-7 at half-time, inspired by 1-5 from Cormac O’Doherty.

Pádraig Doyle finished with 1-5 to his name for Wicklow, but O’Doherty kept his tally rising to end up with 1-13 to lead 11 scorers for for Derry, who also had a second goal from Aimon Duffin and a string of points from Ruairí Ó Míanáin and Éamon Conway. Wicklow’s hopes were very much fading by the time Ronan McMahon was sent off midway through the second half.

London’s hurlers are heading to Croke Park for the first time since 2018 after they cruised past Tyrone in Ruislip.

All four of London’s goals arrived during the first half, courtesy of Conor O’Carroll (two), Seán Glynn and Dylan Dawson, making it 4-7 to 0-9 at the break. David Devine and Enda Egan were also among the scorers for the Exiles as they stayed well clear of the visitors to leapfrog Wicklow into the top two.

Donegal finished their campaign on a high with a high-scoring win away to Meath.

Liam McKinney, Gerard Gilmore and Kevin Kealy were among the scorers in a free-flowing first half from Donegal, who could afford to concede all three goals of this game (to Nicky Potterton, Jack Regan and James Toher) and still secure their second win at this level. Both teams finished with 14 men after Kealy and Toher were dismissed late on.

Nickey Rackard Cup

Roscommon set up a meeting with neighbours Mayo in the Nickey Rackard Cup Final, thanks to a hard-earned win over Mayo, helped by 3-2 from Seán Canning.

Despite Canning’s first goal on 15 minutes, Louth regrouped to lead by 0-15 to 1-8 at half-time, with Darren Geoghegan once again providing the bulk of their scores. The Wee County remained three points up in the 50^th minute, when Brendan Mulry’s major brought Roscommon level. Canning went on to complete his hat-trick and ensure that Roscommon join Mayo in qualifying for their fifth final, which will be the first meeting of the Connacht sides at that stage.

Armagh’s narrow win in Sligo saw them overtake their opponents but wasn’t enough to catch Roscommon for second place.

Tomás Galvin hit three early points as Armagh made a strong start, but goals from Andrew Kilcullen and Darragh Flynn pegged the visitors back in a keenly-contested first half, which ended with the sides level at 2-7 to 0-13. Armagh burst out of the blocks again after the restart to hit six of the first seven points and although Kilcullen netted his second penalty en route to a personal tally of 2-9, Sligo couldn’t eke out the win they needed to retain any hope of pipping the Rossies. Armagh free-taker Shea Harvey finished with ten points as his side repeated their league win in this fixture.

Mayo will take an unbeaten record into their second consecutive final after they came from ten points down to salvage a draw against Fermanagh.

Despite conceding a soft goal to Eoin Delaney, Fermanagh went on to outscore the table-toppers by 1-12 to 0-3 in a 25-minutes spell either side of the interval, with John Duffy hitting the net to help them lead by 1-18 to 1-8. Delaney’s second goal kept Mayo in contention and although Duffy and Seán Corrigan hit a combined 1-13, Fermanagh couldn’t quite close out their first win of the campaign. Having brought the likes of David Kenny, Cormac Philips and Liam Lavin off the bench, Mayo got their third goal late on through Corey Scahill and they almost had a fourth when Lavin’s effort was deflected over the bar by Francis McBrien.

Lory Meagher Cup

Monaghan will face New York in a novel Lory Meagher Cup semi-final after they battled to a crucial draw with Longford in a frantic finish in Inniskeen.

An early goal by Ronan Courtney got Longford off to a strong start, but Niall Arthur’s accuracy helped Monaghan get level by half-time on a scoreline of 0-13 to 1-10.

Longford looked to have made a pivotal burst for the win they needed to leapfrog the hosts into second place when Adam Quinn, Niall Hawes and goal-scorer David Buckley all made an impact off the bench to propel them into a seven-point lead.

James Slevin netted his fourth goal in three games to reignite Monaghan’s challenge, however, and they were right back in it when sub Emmett Walsh also raised a green flag.

Arthur took his tally to 0-15 with four crucial late points, before Longford rattled the woodwork twice during a lengthy bout of added time. The visitors did eke out a draw with a late equaliser from Hawes, but it wasn’t enough to keep them in the competition.

Leitrim signed off on their season on a positive note with a win over table-toppers Cavan.

In contrast to this time last year, when a comprehensive win over Leitrim wasn’t enough for Cavan to qualify, this time around, the Breffni men had already booked their place in the final and Ollie Bellew chose to shuffle his pack, resting several of the players who had fired them to some prolific wins in recent weeks. The home side struggled for scores in their absence, hitting just six points in the first half, which saw Leitrim clip 1-11, including a Joe Murray goal and a long-range free by veteran keeper Clement Cunniffe.

Points from Seán Ó Ríordáin and James McNabola and a major from Gavin O’Brien stretched Leitrim’s advantage into double figures and although Éamon Óg McAllister came off the bench to hit the net for Cavan, they fell to their first defeat.

Lancashire got off the mark on the final day when they pipped Warwickshire in a high-scoring encounter at Páirc na hÉireann.

Warwickshire hit the net four times (two each from Jack Grealish and Miley Connors), but the likes of Pádraic Burke, Shane O’Boyle and Peter Boylan helped keep Lancashire in touch and they eventually hit a late winner to finish on the right side of a 0-26 to 4-13 scoreline.

RESULTS:

Saturday May 17

Christy Ring Cup Round 5

Derry 2-30 Wicklow 1-13

London 4-20 Tyrone 1-13

Donegal 0-28 Meath 3-14

Nickey Rackard Cup Round 5

Fermanagh 1-22 Mayo 3-16

Armagh 0-23 Sligo 3-13

Roscommon 4-17 Louth 0-20

Lory Meagher Cup Round 5

Leitrim 2-15 Cavan 1-10

Monaghan 2-20 Longford 2-20

Warwickshire 4-13 Lancashire 0-26