2012 Leinster Club SHC Champions Kilcormac-Killoughey and Westmeath’s Raharney will meet in the provincial semi-final after victories over Shelmaliers and St Mullin’s, respectively.
Kilcormac-Killoughey (Offaly) 2-13 Shelmaliers 0-18 (Wexford)
Kilcormac-Killoughey had to dig deep in extra-time, before claiming a 2-13 to 0-18 win over first-time Wexford champions Shelmaliers at Wexford Park.
A point from Cillian Kiely in the last minute of extra-time proved to be the match winning score, in a game in which saw both sides hit periods of dominance.
Offaly’s Ger Healion gave an outstanding display at full-back, with little separating the sides in the first half.
Shelmaliers relied hugely on the placed-ball accuracy of Joe Kelly in the opening stages, with the half-forward delivering all of their first four points from frees.
An Eoin Doyle effort from play pushed the Wexford side ahead by the minimum after 18 minutes, but a Conor Mahon goal, after a well-placed pass from Peter Geraghty propelled Kilcormac Killoughey to a 1-04 to 0-05 lead by the 20th minute.
A quartet of unanswered points pushed Shelmaliers two points cleared, and although Kilcormac-Killoughey rallied before the break, they were on the wrong side of a 0-10 to 1-06 interval score-line.
Kilcormac came out in strong fashion on the restart, with an early James Gorman goal effort blocked, before Killian Leonard took possession from a clearance and levelled the game for the fourth time.
Scores were at a premium in the second half, Stephen Banville and Peter Geraghty trading points in the opening 10 minutes.
Level once more at 0-12 to 1-09 after 48 minutes following a Kelly free, Shelmaliers looked like powering to victory when they added unanswered points from Tommy Barron, Eoin Doyle and Ciaran O’Shaughnessy to move three points clear.
However a Gorman goal in injury-time forced extra-time.
The sides were well matched in the opening period of extra-time, equally sharing the six points scored.
Ciaran Slevin and Kiely kept the Kilcormac-Killoughey account ticking over, with Doyle and O’Shaughnessy on target for Shelmaliers.
Just one score was produced after the interval, with Kiely bringing his tally to four points, as he slotted over a late winner.
Raharney (Westmeath) 2-11 St Mullins (Carlow) 0-09
Meanwhile, at Cusack Park in Mullingar Raharney led throughout and were comfortable 2-11 to 0-09 winner over Carlow champions St Mullins.
Johnny Greville’s charges got off to the perfect start, and led by 1-03 to 0-00 after just five minutes, with Killian Doyle on target for their opening goal in the third minute.
Aided by a stiff wind, Raharney failed to make full use of their advantage, and only managed to add two points to their tally over the remainder of the opening half an hour.
St Mullins opened their account in the eighth minute thanks to a Marty Kavanagh free, and they relied hugely on his accuracy from placed balls.
Kavanagh slotted all of his sides four first-half scores, including an effort from play just before the break to ensure a 1-05 to 0-04 interval score-line.
Kavanagh continued to punish Raharney on the restart, and helped cut the gap to two points six minutes after the restart, but this was as close as his side got.
A 40th-minute goal from John Shaw put Raharney in the driving seat once again and they failed to look back, with St Mullins dealt a blow late on, following a straight red card for Seamus Murphy.
