Braniff seals Down's victory

Down 4-16 London 1-16: DOWN WERE given a thorough examination by determined London before Paul Braniff's two goals sealed victory in the Ulster SHC semi-final at Casement Park.

A three-goal win might look a comfortable margin but the fact is the losers put it up to the hot favourites right to the finish. They posed Down a lot of questions, some of which were not answered and had London a bit more steadiness at the back it would have been a lot closer.

London full forward Martin Finn was superb from placed balls and finished as the game's top scorer with a tally of 1-9, the goal coming from a 20-metre free.

But for an upset to occur more was required from the rest of the visitors' attack.

In the second minute, Braniff dropped a free deep into the London defence for Gareth Johnston to belt the sliotar to the net for a great start for the Down men. But that didn't bother the exiles as they knuckled down to the task on hand.

The game was level three times and it was 1-5 apiece after 27 minutes before Down put on a spurt with points by Eoin Clarke, Brendan McGourty and Simon Wilson opening a three points' gap - the biggest of the first half - which ended 1-9 to 1-6.

Down began the second half well with Gareth Johnston adding a point and the hard-working Brendan McGourty hitting a snap goal, inside two minutes.

However, the winners didn't score again for 11 minutes by which time London had narrowed the gap 2-10 to 1-10. But Down's Braniff hit two crucial goals and in the closing minutes he added two points to seal his side's victory.

DOWN: Graham Clarke; L Clarke, S Murray, F Conway; Gabriel Clarke, S Wilson (0-2, both 65s), K Courtney; A Savage (0-1), R McGrattan; P Braniff (2-4, one free), B McGourty (1-3), E Trainor (0-1); E Clarke (0-1), G Johnston (1-2), S Clarke. Subs: B Ennis (0-2) for S Clarke (46), P Hughes for Wilson (60).

LONDON: G McCollum; P Mulcahy, S McLoughlin, T Simms; T Abernethy, N Healy, E Phelan; F McMahon (0-1), C O'Halloran (0-2); J McCarthy (0-2), S Quinn, M Mythen; K McMullan (0-1), M Finn (1-9, 1-8 frees), C McDonnell (0-1). Subs: M Taylor for McDonnell (40), S Malone for McCarthy (52).

Referee: B Sweeney (Cavan).