ULSTER SFC SEMI-FINAL Burren (Down) 1-10 Latton (Monaghan) 0-11:BURREN'S GREATER efficiency at converting possession into scores at vital times helped them over the line at the expense of a wasteful Latton in this very entertaining semi-final in the Athletic Grounds Armagh yesterday.
The sides were level three times in the opening 20 minutes with Burren then going on to lead 1-4 to 0-6 at the break, the goal coming from Shane McArdle at the end of a lightning counter-attack.
By the sixth minute of the second half Burren had extended their lead to four points thanks to scores from Conal McGovern, Shay McArdle (a 45 ) and John Murdock.
Latton pulled back a point through Shane Coyle from a free in the ninth minute but by the final quarter Burren had extended their lead to six points, via two points from Conal McGovern and a third from Kevin McKernan.
From there to the finish though Burren came under increasing pressure as Latton dug deep with points by Owen Duffy in the 48th and 53rd minutes, Owen Lennon and Hugh McElroy from a free in the 58th minute reducing the deficit to just two points.
There was further drama in the closing minutes as Burren were reduced to 13 players late on with the dismissal of centre back Ciarán McGovern (second yellow card) and substitute Eoin McCartan on a straight red.
BURREN: C Murdock, R McGovern, D McCartan, G McCartan, K McKernan (0-1), Ciaran McGovern, D McEntee, A Higgins, A McArdle, Conal McGovern (0-3), S Murdock (0-1), P Poland (0-2), D O'Hare (0-2, frees), J McGovern, S McArdle (1-1, 0-1 45). Subs: E McCartan for R McGovern.
LATTON: S Farmer, P Fitzpatrick, E Lennon, O Coyle, D O'Brien (0-1), K Duffy, S Fitzpatrick (0-1), O Lennon (0-1), A Farmer, N Traynor, O Duffy (0-3), J Kingston, S Coyle (0-3, frees), H McElroy (0-2, frees), S McElroy. Subs: B O'Brien for J Kingston, Patrick Shannon for N Traynor, T Connolly for D O'Brien.
Referee: B Cassidy(Derry).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)