St Patrick's 0-14 St Colman's 1-11:St Patrick's, Maghera, midfielder Peter Cassidy claimed an injury-time equaliser in a gripping clash with Newry in Dunmoyle on Saturday.
Maghera looked the more purposeful side in the early stages as they forged a 0-4 to 0-2 lead with Niall Toner, Danny Tallon and Gerard Bradley among their scorers.
And, with 10 minutes left to played, the competition favourites looked to be in a strong position as they still held a three-point lead, but the Newry lads rattled off four unanswered scores to come perilously close to upsetting the odds.
Cassidy though came to the rescue and they will have to do it all over again next Saturday at the same venue at 2pm.
The other semi-final – between St Paul’s, Bessbrook and St Macartan’s, Monaghan – takes place this Wednesday in the Athletic Grounds at 7.30pm.
ST PATRICKS, MAGHERA: C McCloy; P McNeil, D Hughes, O Hegarty; C Mulholland, C Glass, P Hagan; J Kearney, P Cassidy (0-1); C O’Doherty (0-1), G Bradley (0-4), S O’Hara (0-3); N Toner (0-1), C Convery (0-1), D Tallon (0-2). Subs: C Murphy for Toner, N McNicholl (0-1) for Convery, C Carville for Hagan.
ST COLMAN’S, NEWRY: J O’Hare; A McKiernan, M Finnegan, J Brown; M O’Hare, J McDermott (0-1), C Brown; J Curran, J Friel; C Sands, D Noonan (1-1), O O’Neill; L McGreevy, J Haughey (0-4), K Rice (0-4). Subs: B Doyle (0-1) for Friel, E Grant for ONeill, J Fegan for Curran. Referee: M Higgins, Fermanagh.
