Intermediate footballers reach county final.

county semi finalFine second half performance secures victory over Taghmon.

SHELMALIERS PREVAIL

A classic it certainly wasn’t but in terms of endeavour and spirit the footballers of Shelmaliers and Taghmon Camross fought out a titanic battle in Wexford Park in the first of the intermediate football  semi finals with the Shelmaliers when they eventually found their shooting boots pulling away late on to win by 0-11 to 0-6.
The slippery and greasy conditions did not help to provide classic flowing football and there were many instances of players from both sides losing possession and some very poor shooting in particular from the Shelmalier forwards who ended with a tally of 16 wides.
The first half in particular was a very poor affair with the Shels holding a narrow lead of 0-4 to 0-3 at the interval.
Pat Nolan with a brace and Anthony Breen pointed for Taghmon Camross with Terry Gainfort, scorer in chief for the Shels with 3 (2 from frees) and full forward Aidan Murphy adding the third.
The first 12 minutes of the second half were equally tame with only another Gainfort effort exercising the umpires.
However the last quarter of the game witnessed a significant improvement in the quality of fare.  Jason McLoughlin with his first score briefly reduced the lee way but another brace of points from Gainfort and Alan Griffith again put 3 points between the sides 0-7 to 0-4 in favour of the Shels.  Taghmon rallied and added 2 of the next 3 points, from Johnny Waters and Pauric O’Gorman with another magnificent Gainfort effort keeping the Shels 2 points in front.
However with the Shels powerhouses of Clive Lawlor and Brian Malone at midfield continuing to dominate, the Shels finished strongly with 3 unanswered points from substitute Colin Redmond, Derek Walsh and another superb Gainfort point his 7th such effort in a splendid display.
The Shels forward line were very wasteful on the day but still did enough to win and their defence was splendid with Marc Walsh in particular doing an outstanding marking job on Jason McLoughlin, the evergreen Colin Tynan made some vital interceptions and all the rest of the backs, more than played their part with Emmet O’Leary particularly solid throughout.  Taghmon did not do enough to win on the day but their best individual performers were Andreas Doyle who was superb at centre back, wing back Jason Delaney and Pat Nolan was their most productive forward. . 

Teams
Shelmaliers
David Shiggins, Mark Walsh, Colm Tynan, Cathal Gaule, Thomas Barron, David Walsh, Emmet O’Leary, Brian Malone, Clive Lawlor, Graham Power, Stephen Banville, Alan Griffith (0-1), Derek Walsh (0-1), Aidan Murphy (0-1), Terry Gainfort (0-7, 3 frees).
Substitutes
Colin Redmond (0-1) for Power 42 minutes.

Taghmon/Camross
Michael Carty, Jimmy Doran, Robert Nolan, Michael Nolan, Mark O’Gorman, Andreas Doyle, Jason Delaney, Anthony Breen (0-1), Johnny Waters (0-1), Pat Nolan (0-2), David Foley, Michael O’Gorman, Pairic O’Gorman (0-1), Darren Deery, Jason McLoughlin (0-1)
Substitutes
Richard Comerford for Foley 41 minutes.

Referee James Owens (Askamore)