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Lancashire Senior Championship Semi-Final 

John Mitchel's 0-13 St Peter's 0-6

Despite being a far cry from the side that steamrolled their way to
Croke Park last season John Mitchel's moved into their 9th consecutive
Lancashire Championship final with a fairly comfortable win over their
great rivals of recent years. While describing it as comfortable
Mitchel's might have well paid for their profligacy had it not been
for two superb saves from keeper Mattie Deeney in the final quarter.
The defending champions have had something of a lacklustre summer but
started in a very positive manner and generally controlled play in all
sectors. Francis Cassidy got them rolling with an early point and Dave
McTeggart who started at full back found himself upfield to strike a
superb second. Paddy Mulligan struck a post eight minutes in when he
intercepted an intended back pass but his punched effort from the
loose ball was cleared to safety
Dessie O Malley opened st Peter's account thirteen in but Cassidy
responded in kind instantly. Despite dominating possession Mitchel's
efforts continued to fall short due to some stolid defending by St
Peter's or as often as not due to their own indecision or misplaced
efforts. Their only other score of the half came from Craig Owen in
the 28th minute in response to two pointed frees from O Malley and a
long distance from Kevin Lonagan..
The second half began in similar form with Cassidy and O Malley
exchanging points before Craig Owen fired over his second fine point
of the day.McTeggart powered upfield again eight minutes to release
John McDermott for a point as Mitchel's sought to make their dominance
count on the scoreboard. O Malley kept his side in touch with another
point but it was noticable that Paddy Mulligan was becoming much more
influential as the game wore on.
The Kildare man nailed two excellent points after he was picked out by
substitute Rory Sharvin and John McDermott in turn to open up a five
point gap.
Craig Owen replied to Ronan Gallaghers effort as the game entered the
final quarter. Cassidy soon made that gap six and Peter's chances of a
comeback more or less died when Mattie Deeney saved superbly from O
Malley's effort with ten minutes left.
From there in it was more or less job done for the defending champions
and Cassidy's sixth point of the game closed the scoring before Deeney
pulled off another great save following a goalmouth scramble.
Mitchel's will need to improve considerably to retain their title but
they will for now just be happy to be in another final.

John Mitchel's: Mattie Deeney,Alan Brown,Dave McTeggart(0-1),Niall
McShane,Sean Rice,Padraig McGurk,Martin Carey,John
McDermott(0-1),Denis O Neill,Colm Murphy,Francis Cassidy(0-6),Craig
Owen(0-3),Paddy Mulligan(0-2),Edward Jackson, Aiden Kearney
Subs Rory Sharvin for Sean Rice, Paddy Murphy for Edward Jackson

1 Joe Sheehan 2 Jason Hurst, 3. Roy McCarten 4. Olly Weir, 5 Paidi
O'Shea 6. Connor Boylan 7. Gary Morris 8. Ronan Gallagher (0-1)
9. Kevin Lonagan(0-1) 10. James Quinn 11. Liam Coyne 12. Niall
Fitzpatrick 13. Eoin Meaney 14 Dessie O Malley(0-4) ,15.Jack
O'Docherty
Subs: Shane Gallagher for Paudie O Shea,Kevin Carney for Niall Fitzpatrick