The Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups group stages concluded on Saturday as the pairings for the knock-out fixtures became clear.

Christy Ring Cup

Derry secured top spot in Group A of the Christy Ring Cup with a convincing win at home to Wicklow.

After starting slowly for the second week in a row, Derry hit the front with a purple patch of six unanswered points and although Wicklow settled back into it after the water break, the hosts led by 0-12 to 0-11 at the interval. Odhrán McKeever’s goal after the restart set the tone for Derry to pull away, while Cormac and Oisín O’Doherty also made an impact at either end. Wicklow had the game’s top scorer in Andy O’Brien (0-12), but a second goal by McKeever put the game beyond the reach of the away side, who had Daniel Staunton sent off late on. Sé McGuigan and Gerald Bradley were also on song up front for Derry as they made it back-to-back wins with a bit to spare.

Scorers for Derry: Odhrán McKeever 2-2; Cormac O’Doherty 0-7 (5f, 1 ‘65); Sé McGuigan 0-4; Gerald Bradley 0-3; Brian Cassidy 0-2; Eoghan Cassidy 0-2; Déaglán Foley 0-1; Pádhraig Nelis 0-1; Mark McGuigan 0-1.

Scorers for Wicklow: Andy O’Brien 0-12 (9f); Gary Hughes 0-1; Luke Evans 0-1; Christy Moorehouse 0-1; Daniel Staunton 0-1; Shaun Cranley 0-1; Éamonn Kearns 0-1.

Wicklow will now face Group B qualifiers Offaly in the semi-finals, while Derry await the winners of the all-Connacht quarter-final between Roscommon and Sligo.

Nickey Rackard Cup

Nickey Rackard Cup champions Donegal are through to another semi-final after a strong second-half performance accounted for a spirited challenge from Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon.

A hat-trick of first-half goals – Diarmuid Kelleher (two) and James McNabola – had Leitrim dreaming of a shock win, with Donegal down to 14 men following the dismissal of Ronan McDermott. Kelleher’s second major, in added time, had Leitrim led by 3-5 to 0-10 at the break, but they would be comprehensively outscored by 1-11 to 0-3 during the third quarter.

The game swung in the early minutes of the second half, with a brace of points by Gerard Gilmore halving Donegal’s deficit, before the numbers were evened up when a Martin Feeney foul was deemed to deny a goal-scoring opportunity, with Declan Coulter netting the resulting penalty. Coulter would have to go off injured midway through the second half, but he had 1-10 to his name by that stage, with Richie Ryan increasing his tally to seven points after assuming free-taking duties. Ben Murray got a fourth Leitrim goal late on, but Donegal had done enough for a win that sees them finish second in Group A.

Scorers for Leitrim: Diarmuid Kelleher 2-0; Gavin O’Hagan 0-5 (3f); Ben Murray 1-1; James McNabola 1-0; Karl McDermott 0-2; Cathal O’Donovan 0-1; Liam Moreton 0-1.

Scorers for Donegal: Declan Coulter 1-10 (1-0 pen, 0-7f, 0-1 ’65); Richie Ryan 0-7 (3f); Gerard Gilmore 0-5; Bernard Lafferty 0-3; Christopher McDermott 0-1; Jack O’Loughlin 0-1.

Donegal advance to an all-Ulster semi-final against Tyrone, while a clash with Group A winners Mayo is on offer for either Leitrim or Armagh.

Lory Meagher Cup

Longford finished Group A of the Lory Meagher Cup unbeaten after they came from behind to share the spoils with Monaghan in Inniskeen.

Monaghan led for almost the entire game in Inniskeen against a Longford side who already had one foot in the last four thanks to their comprehensive round-one win over Louth, but the visitors finished strongly.

Despite grabbing the game’s only goal through Joe O’Brien in the 25th minute, Longford trailed by 0-10 to 1-3 at half-time, but they gradually ate into their deficit after the restart. Monaghan regained the lead late on a few occasions late on, through Hugh Byrne, Niall Garland and Fergal Rafter, but O’Brien took his tally to 1-7 to draw Longford level and deny the hosts the win they needed.

Scorers for Monaghan: Fergal Rafter 0-6 (5f); Mark Treanor 0-4; Niall Garland 0-2; Brian McGuigan 0-2; Stephen Lambe 0-1; Shane Slevin 0-1; Pádraig McGahon 0-1; Pauric Malone 0-1; Hugh Byrne 0-1.

Scorers for Longford: Joe O’Brien 1-7 (0-5f); David Buckley 0-2; Cathal Mullane 0-2; John Mulhern 0-2; Steven Creaven 0-1; Reuben Murray 0-1; Cian Kavanagh 0-1.

Longford’s next opponents will be the winners of the quarter-final between Monaghan and Fermanagh. The other semi-final fixture is Cavan v Louth.

RESULTS:

Saturday, July 10

Christy Ring Cup Group A

Derry 2-23 Wicklow 0-18

Nickey Rackard Cup Group A

Leitrim 4-10 Donegal 1-27

Lory Meagher Cup Group A

Monaghan 0-19 Longford 1-16