The semi-final line-ups are complete in the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups, while Louth have joined Fermanagh in the Lory Meagher Cup Final.

Christy Ring Cup

Offaly made a prolific debut in the Christy Ring Cup when they powered past 14-man Derry in Newry on Saturday.

Eoghan Cahill was in sparling form as Offaly ended their three-year wait for a championship win, as he hit just over half (0-17) of a handsome tally for Michael Fennelly’s side. Offaly set the tone from early on, outscoring Derry by 0-7 to 0-1 in the opening ten minutes, with Liam Langton, Peter Geraghty, Colm Gath and Oisín Kelly joining Cahill on the scoresheet. Cormac O’Doherty’s scores from frees helped Derry grow into the game gradually, but they could only manage two points from play, both via Fintan Bradley, in the first half, while Offaly had scoring threats throughout their attack and from deep through Ben Conneely as they pushed on to lead by 0-16 to 0-6 at the interval.

Derry settled well into the second half, with Richie Mullan finding the net seven minutes in to reduce their deficit to six points. For the second weekend in a row, however, their challenge was hit by being reduced to 14 men, as Offaly went through the gears again after John Mullan’s dismissal. The Faithful County added 12 points to their tally in the last half-hour, to just three for Derry, with Cahill continuing to lead the way. Subs Thomas Geraghty, Brian Duignan and Seán Cleary brought Offaly’s number of scorers up to 11 as they powered through to the semi-finals.

Scorers for Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 0-17 (12fs, 1 ‘65); Liam Langton 0-3; Oisín Kelly 0-2; Colm Gath 0-2; Peter Geraghty 0-2; Ben Conneely 0-1; Jason Sampson 0-1; David Nally 0-1; Sean Cleary 0-1; Brian Duignan 0-1; Thomas Geraghty 0-1.

Scorers for Derry: Cormac O’Doherty 0-8f; Richie Mullan 1-0; Fintan Bradley 0-2; Conor Kelly 0-1; Jerome McGuigan 0-1.

Roscommon are through to the Christy Ring semi-finals for the second year in a row after they just did enough to hold off Sligo in their Connacht derby at Athleague.

A Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch brace and a Conor Hanniffy effort gave Sligo a three-point lead early on, but Roscommon replied with five unanswered points before the first water break. Cathal Dolan continued to show the way as Roscommon quickly doubled their lead to four, but Sligo stopped the rot by scoring the next three points. Dolan and Johnny Coyne helped the hosts lead by 0-11 to 0-8 at half-time.

A string of scores by O’Kelly-Lynch helped Sligo get on level terms at 0-13 apiece and although Dolan and Conor Mulry, another brace by the visitors’ free-taker tied it up once more. Dolan (0-13) and O’Kelly-Lynch (0-12) both took their personal tallies into double figures by the end as the scores remained finely poised in a tense finish which saw Roscommon reduced to 14. 2019 Nicky Rackard champions Sligo battled all the way on their Christy Ring debut, but Roscommon got over the line on a scoreline of 0-20 to 0-17.

Scorers for Roscommon: Cathal Dolan 0-13 (11f); Johnny Coyne 0-2; Conor Mulry 0-2; Shane Curley 0-1f; Eoghan Costello 0-1; Oisín Kelly 0-1.

Scorers for Sligo: Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch 0-12 (11f); Conor Hanniffy 0-2; Tony O’Kelly-Lynch 0-1; Mark Hanniffy 0-1f; Andrew Kilcullen 0-1.

Nicky Rackard Cup

Leitrim are through to the Nicky Rackard Cup semi-finals for the first time after they edged a derby away to Longford.

Gavin O’Hagan put Leitrim on the front foot with a hat-trick of early points, while Enda and Colm Moreton and Ben Murray were also on the mark as they dominated the opening half-an-hour on the scoreboard. Joe O’Brien and Alan Ward helped Longford finish the first half with a run of scores, however, to see them change ends within the minimum at 0-6 to 0-5.

Leitrim made a dream start to the second half, with Conor Beirne drilling to the net from the first attack, but Longford responded with six unanswered points as Maitiú O’Donohoe, Cian Kavanagh, Ward and Shane and Joe O’Brien found their range. Leitrim had gone more than 20 minutes without adding to their tally since the goal, but O’Hagan, Enda Moreton and David McGovern steadied the ship for the 2019 Lory Meagher Cup winners. O’Hagan converted a brace of frees to hand Leitrim a narrow lead and with the six minutes of added time producing no scores (and a second booking for Longford’s Daniel Connell), they set up an all-Connacht semi-final against Mayo.

Scorers for Leitrim: Gavin O’Hagan 0-6 (3f); Conor Beirne 1-0; Enda Moreton 0-2; Colm Moreton 0-1; David McGovern 0-1; Ben Murray 0-1.

Scorers for Longford: Alan Ward 0-4f; Joe O’Brien 0-3; Cian Kavanagh 0-2; Maitiú O’Donohoe 0-1; Shane O’Brien 0-1; Iomar Creaven 0-1.

Tyrone qualified for their fourth consecutive Nicky Rackard Cup semi-final after a strong finish saw them hit 1-2 in added time to pull away from neighbours Monaghan in Clontibret.

The teams evenly shared ten points during an entertaining opening quarter, where Monaghan’s Fergal Rafter and Tyrone’s talisman Damian Casey (operating at full-forward) were in fine form at either end. Rafter and Casey would finish the opening half with seven points each, while Bryan McGurk’s goal guided Tyrone to a 1-12 to 0-9 advantage, with Monaghan counting the cost of several missed chances.

Having failed to convert a handful of goal chances, Monaghan got right back into it when Aidan Burns found the net for the third time in two games, but as scores dried up at either end, Casey and Conor Grogan restored Tyrone’s six-point cushion. Monaghan pushed hard for a late response, but they gifted a chance to Kiefer Morgan, who finished ruthlessly to seal it, with Seán Donaghy and Liam Armstrong adding gloss to the scoreboard as the visitors doubled their winning margin. Another Ulster derby against Donegal is next up for Tyrone.

Scorers for Tyrone: Damian Casey 0-10 (3f, 1 ‘65); Bryan McGurk 1-2; Kiefer Morgan 1-1; Conor Grogan 0-3; Branán Molloy 0-1; Seán Donaghy 0-1; Liam Armstrong 0-1.

Scorers for Monaghan: Fergal Rafter 0-8 (4f); Aidan Burns 1-3 (0-2f); Déaglán Crowe 0-1.

Lory Meagher Cup

Louth qualified for the Lory Meagher Cup Final against Fermanagh when they held off a late rally from Cavan on Sunday.

The sides were level four times inside the opening quarter, with Louth wing-back Liam Molloy hitting the pick of the early points to kick off an unanswered run of 1-5 from the away side. Andrew Mackin touched home the game’s only goal from close range for Louth, who pushed on with scores from Darren Geoghegan, Ryan Walsh, David Kettle and Paul Matthews as they opened up a 1-10 to 0-7 interval lead.

Brian Fitzgerald’s free-taking kept Cavan in contention throughout the third quarter and after Louth had David Kettle sent off for a second booking, the hosts found their rhythm. With Fitzgerald taking his tally from placed balls to 11 and Seán Keating and Cillian Sheanon also on target, Cavan hit five on the trot to move within one inside added time as the Lory Meagher produced another close finish, but Geoghegan’s seventh point sealed Louth’s place in their first final since 2016.

Scorers for Louth: Darren Geoghegan 0-7 (6f); Andrew Mackin 1-0; Paul Matthews 0-2; David Kettle 0-2; Feidhlim Joyce 0-1; Gavin Kerrigan 0-1; Liam Molloy 0-1; Ryan Walsh 0-1.

Scorers for Cavan: Brian Fitzgerald 0-11 (10f, 1 ‘65); Seán Keating 0-2; Philip Brady 0-1; Fiachra Hughes 0-1; Cillian Sheanon 0-1.

RESULTS:

Saturday, November 7

Christy Ring Cup Round 2B

Offaly 0-32 Derry 1-12

Nicky Rackard Cup Round 2B

Longford 0-12 Leitrim 1-11

Monaghan 1-12 Tyrone 2-19

Sunday, November 8

Christy Ring Cup Round 2B

Roscommon 0-20 Sligo 0-17

Lory Meagher Cup Round 3

Cavan 0-16 Louth 1-15