St Andrews   2-10   Clonmore   1-7

With the scores level at 1-7 each on 55 minutes it looked like this game could go either way but a late scoring burst gave St Andrews a crucial win in this keenly contested Intermediate Championship match at Dr Cullen Park on Sunday.

Clonmore opened brightly with points from David Mulvany and Enda McGrath before wing back Johnny Dowling got the Saints off the mark with probably the best point of the game. On 17 minutes, Enda McGrath somehow rose above a couple of taller defenders to punch a long ball from brother John to the net. Gavin Byrne followed up with a pointed free to give Clonmore a deserved lead of 1-3 to 0-1 on 20 minutes. But St Andrews pulled themselves back into the game with late points by Alan Corcoran, after a mix-up in the Clonmore defence, and two frees by Brian Murphy.

A fine point on the re-start by Craig Doyle gave notice of things to come as the county hurler proved to be a thorn in Clonmore’s side throughout the second half. Gavin Byrne replied with a point for Clonmore but then came the turning point as a great cross, driven from the end-line by John Doyle, was expertly fielded by Alan Corcoran on the edge of the square leaving him with only Paudge McGrath to beat. Corcoran made no mistake to put St Andrews 1-5 to 1-4 ahead on 35 minutes.

Clonmore rose to the challenge and points from Con Murphy, Gavin Byrne (free) and Murphy again put the men in red & green back in front by 1-7 to 1-6 on 50 minutes. However that was as good as it got for Clonmore and St Andrews finished stronger with Brian Murphy scoring the equaliser, super sub David Cormack kicking 0-3 (2 frees) and Craig Doyle putting the icing on the cake with a cracking goal three minutes into stoppage time.

This result brings the Bagenalstown men right back into the Championship and leaves five teams with a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage going into the final round of IFC games this weekend