In difficult playing conditions yesterday, St Mel's, Longford booked the remaining place in the Leinster Senior Football A semi-final with a two-points win over St Joseph's, Rochfortbridge.
With home advantage, the Westmeath school kept pace with St Mel's for the first half and trailed by a point, 0-6 to 0-5, at the interval.
St Joseph's played their best football in the early stages of the second half and deservedly took a two points lead midway through the half when Andrew Canning rifled the ball to the St Mel's net. However, they were dealt a cruel blow when they lost influential midfielder Padraig Leavy.
St Mel's dominated the last quarter, and a succession of frees from Gary Kenny saw them through to a meeting with Moate Community School in the semi-final.
ST MEL'S: D Fay; J Quinn, M Magan, A Gannon; F Lennon, T Nolan, S Harrington; S Lynch, I Shannon; E Reilly (0-1), D Barden, K Smith; G Kenny (0-9), W Murray (0-2), J Kiernan. Sub: E Williams for Reilly (37 mins).
ST JOSEPH'S: D Molloy; D Duffy, D Kavanagh, N Flanagan; R Dunbar (0-1), M Leavy, N Cole; P Leavy, E Miller; F Dardis (0-1), A Brereton (0-1), E Leonard; A Canning (1-0), D Cleary, G McDonnell (0-4). Subs: D Cooney for Cleary (22 mins), J Bradley for Brereton (47 mins), M Cole for P Leavy (inj 64 mins).
