Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final
Carey Faughs 1-11 0-11 Castleblayney Hurling
Conor McBride was the hero as Carey Faughs edged out Castleblayney to advance to the Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship final.
Racing through on goal a minute from time, he found the kind of space that had been at a premium all afternoon.
But he never once panicked in a match that had been far from a classic up until that point.
Indeed after 11 minutes, Fergal Rafter was the only man to trouble the scoreboard. Carrickmore was unsurprisingly blustery as this match was eventually played at the third attempt.
It was score for score from the early stages, as Mark Treanor and Brian McGuigan before him responded to strikes from Carey’s Conor McBride and Caolan McCaughan.
Callum Kane levelled matters for the third time, but from there until the break, it was all about Rafter. A dead-ball specialist, he slotted two in a row, and by the break his tally was four.
A neat effort from play proved the ‘Blayney man’s prowess in that department too, with Conleith McKinley’s score reducing the deficit to two as he raised a white flag in unorthodox but impressive style.
Declan Hughes got the Monaghan men back on the front foot, and they led for the majority of the latter period.
Conall McGlynn and James Black kept Carey Faughs in touch, before McKinley and Callum Cane turned the deficit into a slender lead.
Rafter struck once more but then came a burst of 1-1 that usually in hurling is recoverable. But not in this low-scoring affair, so late on.
Carey Faughs advance and will meet Michael Davitts of Swatragh in the Ulster IHC final next weekend.