ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION THREE RESULTS

CAVAN 2-14 DOWN 1-10

WESTMEATH 4-27 ANTRIM 0-8

OFFALY 2-14 LONGFORD 1-16

FERMANAGH 2-11 TIPPERARY 0-8

The lie of the land in Division Three is a lot clearer after this weekend's results, with Cavan almost certainly confirmed as league finalists after their fifth consecutive win, while Fermanagh, Westmeath, Down and Offaly are all still very much in the promotion hunt, with Fermanagh holding a two-point lead over the other three counties, following their nine-point win over Tipperary at Ederney.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Longford narrowly missed out on a great chance to steal a march on Antrim and Tipperary, and while Antrim still have a slight advantage with two points on the board, ahead of Longford and Tipp with one, they will have a lot of soul searching to do after a hugely difficult afternoon at TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar.

John Heslin was the tormentor-in-chief for the Lake County in that game, as he racked up 1-12 out of their total, including the first five scores of the game. With a slight breeze at their backs, they moved 1-6 to 0-0 ahead by the halfway point in the first half, Heslin finishing off the goal after good work from Senan Baker and Ronan O’Toole in the build-up.

Baker, who has been a hugely valuable find for new manager Dessie Dolan this year, also put his name on a wonderful goal after 28 minutes, and with Heslin and Luke Loughlin knocking over a fine array of points, they were home and hosed at the break with a 2-12 to 0-3 lead on the board.

If Antrim thought there might be any let up after half-time, a goal from David Lynch with just 20 seconds elapsed quickly disabused them of that notion. The rest of the half continued in that vein, with the St. Loman’s trio of O’Toole, Sam McCartan and Shane Dempsey all making notable contributions. O’Toole brought his tally to four points, Dempsey kicked three off the bench, while McCartan added goal number four with a couple of minutes remaining.

Cavan remain the pace setters in the division, as they recovered from the concession of a goal to Donnacha McAleese after just three minutes, and still cruised to a comfortable win over Down at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The home side levelled the game after 28 minutes, fell behind again to an Andrew Gilmore free, and were luck to be on terms at half-time, as Patrick Branagan was narrowly off-target with another goal chance.

The second half was a completely different contest, with James Smith making a significant impact off the bench. He won the throw in at the restart and set up Cavan’s first lead through Cian Madden, and Mickey Graham’s men duly kicked on. Paddy Lynch, Dara McVeety and Brandon Boylan all struck good scores, and as Down chased the game late on, Paddy Lynch was able to fire in two goals to seal yet another win for the in-form Breffni men.

Just across the border, Fermanagh made it three wins from three in “block two” of this year’s league, but unlike their previous outings against Antrim and Down, there were no last-minute heroics needed at Ederney today, with goals from Seán Quigley and Aidan Breen in the first half ensuring a very comfortable afternoon for Kieran Donnelly’s side.

Poor shooting threatened to leave Tipperary in a game where they were clearly second best from general play, even after Quigley raised his green flag with ten minutes gone, but they needed to take every chance of their own, such as Mark Stokes’ close range shot for goal that was smothered by Seán McNally.

After 15 scoreless minutes, Fermanagh rallied again before the break with points from Aidan Breen, Josh Largo Ellis and Lee Cullen, with Breen’s cool finish for a second goal in between those scores putting nine points between the sides at half-time.

The second half was predictably dull, with Teddy Kennedy’s two points for Tipp and a late brace for Ciarán Corrigan the only real highlights.

Undoubtedly the game of the day was in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, where Jack Bryant’s second half goal was just about enough to see Offaly over the line against their Leinster rivals, in what was a dress rehearsal for the Leinster championship meeting between the sides in five weeks’ time.

Bernard Allen and Anton Sullivan were in good form up front for a much more efficient Offaly side, while Longford will wonder how they didn’t convert more goal chances. Daniel Mimnagh did find the net for the home side after a poor kickout from Ian Duffy handed him the chance, cancelling out Allen’s early goal.

At 1-9 each at half-time, the tie was there to be won for both teams. Longford started brightly, kicking the first three points of the second half, before Offaly took over for 20 minutes, moving four points ahead. Bryant shot his goal, there were points from Allen, Cian Farrell and Nigel Dunne, but Longford rallied late and got within one point when Joseph Hagan rounded off the scoring in the third minute of stoppage time. They could have won it too, but Daniel Farrell’s late attempt on goal fizzed the wrong side of the post.