Interprovincial Football Championship SFC Semi-final: Leinster 2-13, Ulster 2-10 Another surprise in Saturday night's M Donnelly interprovincial football semi-final has set up an unexpected finale between Connacht and Leinster, in Boston the weekend after next. Leinster had travelled to Cavan as outsiders but after a difficult opening phase, the champions gradually turned the tables on the competition specialists and held out for the last 10 minutes with 14 men after the dismissal of Michael Ennis for two yellow cards.
It was an outcome that looked as remote as the moon in the early stages as Brian McEniff's team put together wave after wave of slick movements to race into a 1-1 to 0-0 lead - the goal from Seánie Johnston, after four minutes. But in a match illuminated by the officially unveiled floodlights at Kingspan Breffni Park, it was Leinster's prospects that brightened as the match progressed.
Once Joe Sheridan calmly dispatched a 13th-minute penalty, awarded for a foul on him after he had fielded a high ball from Pádraig Clancy, the holders were back in the hunt and from then on, the match was competitive, exciting and open.
The Laois pair of Brendan Quigley and Clancy got on top at centrefield and Ulster were unable to regain the initiative. Fermanagh's Marty McGrath had to cry off before the match with injury.
Leinster manager Val Andrews revealed he had engaged in some shuttle diplomacy to secure the release of Sheridan and Dermot Earley, both of whom were booked for an International Rules training session on Saturday.
"I went down to Seán Boylan this morning and had a bit of a talk with him," said Andrews, "and fair play to Seán, he released the lads and we had a good game of football, nice excitement and plenty of craic. It's a good advertisement for a competition they're trying to get rid of."
Sheridan proved a vital recruit, as his physical strength and ball-winning capacity gave Ulster plenty of problems. Conal Keaney's goal was accompanied by two excellent first-half points shot from either side of the field as Leinster opened up a second-quarter lead.
Tactical adjustments at the back also proved effective with Darren Rooney operating better in the half backs while Caoimhín King tightened things up on the inside line. At left wing Karol Slattery was full of running and delivered on his ball-carrying skills.
A slightly fortuitous goal on the stroke of half-time - Stephen O'Neill poking the ball home after a gliding run through the Leinster defence looked to have broken down when he was dispossessed - put Ulster on level terms at the break, 2-4 to 1-7 with a strong breeze to follow.
A disappointed McEniff noted: "Ulster will always play fairly well against winds. Sometimes you would feel you might be better playing against it in both halves. But we had a bad start to the second half when we needed a good start and thereafter we were chasing the game."
That bad start saw Leinster, through frees from Keaney and John Doyle and points from Brian Kavanagh and Mark Carpenter, move four ahead. Johnston's frees at the other end kept Ulster in touch but they were still struggling to mobilise the obvious menace of O'Neill and Paddy Bradley in the full forwards.
No sooner had they cut the margin to two than Leinster struck for the decisive score: Keaney fetching a high delivery from replacement Paul Barden and slotting home a goal for 2-12 to 2-7.
Johnston and Bradley got it back to two before Sheridan landed a 40-metre free into the wind for the last score of the match.
Andrews admitted he will have a dilemma getting international panellists free for a trip to Boston less than a week before the first Test but declined to speculate further on the matter.
LEINSTER: G Connaughton (Westmeath); A Fennelly (Laois), D Rooney (Laois), M Ennis (Westmeath); C King (Meath), C Moran (Dublin), K Slattery (Offaly); B Quigley (Offaly), P Clancy (Laois); D Lally (Dublin), J Doyle (Kildare) 0-4, two frees, M Carpenter (Carlow) 0-2; C Keaney (Dublin) 1-3, 0-1 free, J Sheridan (Meath) 1-3, 1-0 penalty, 0-2 frees, B Kavanagh (Longford) 0-1. Subs: P Barden (Longford) for Lally (53 mins), D Earley (Kildare) for Kavanagh (57 mins), A Mangan (Westmeath) for Carpenter (64 mins), D Reilly (Longford) for Moran (65 mins).
ULSTER: P Hearty (Armagh); A Mallon (Armagh), B Owens (Fermanagh), F Bellew (Armagh); B Dunnion (Donegal), B Monaghan (Donegal), P Jordan (Tyrone); D Gordon (Down), N Gallagher (Donegal); D Clerkin (Monaghan), S Cavanagh (Tyrone) 0-2, one free, F Doherty (Derry); S Johnston (Cavan) 1-5, 0-4 frees), S O'Neill (Tyrone) capt 1-0, P Bradley (Derry) 0-3. Subs: C Toye (Donegal) for Gordon (45 mins), K Lacey (Donegal) for Owens (45 mins), P Brady (Cavan) for Monaghan (53 mins), E Bradley (Derry) for Doherty (62 mins).
Referee: P Russell (Tipperary).
