By james art 
Middletown 1-13 Castleblaney 0-17
Castleblayney caused an upset at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds on Saturday night as they bravely fought off Middletown to retain their place in the semi-finals of the Ulster Intermediate Hurling Championship.
Kevin Moloney’s men led for most of the game, but when Middletown youngster Rory Grimes buried a goal in the 45th minute, it looked like the Armagh side would take control.
Blayney held firm and showed some serious resilience to claim the last two scores of the night, both through Niall Garland, to go through by the narrowest of margins.
Middletown will rue their missed chances, taking their total to 16 by the end of the day.
The away side made the better start with Mark Traynor and Garland (free) scoring in the first two minutes.
Grimes put Middletown up, although his effort was canceled out by Declan Hughes.
Garland and Nathan Curry traded points, as did Brian McGuigan and Ben Toal, before Ryan Gaffney made it a one-point game.
Cormac McNally and Thomas Hughes found their range while Currie (free) maintained his touch.
Two more from the impressive Hughes, along with strikes from Traynor and Fergal Rafter, extended the gap but Curry had the final say of the half, slotting over his third as Blaney headed to the dressing room the happier of the two, leading 11-6.
Middletown hit four of the first five points after the turnaround as their defense led by Paddy McBride began to get on top, but it wasn’t until that Grimes goal, which came via a powerful Charlie McArdle strike, that Middletown pushed ahead.
Castleblayney held on and Garland won three of the last four points, including the winner, to grab the headlines on a great night for the Monaghan champions.
Castleblay Top Scorers: N Garland 0-6 (4f), T Hughes 0-4, M Treanor 0-2, D Hughes 0-2, F Rafter 0-1, C McNally 0-1, B McGuigan 0-1.
Middletown Scorers: R Grimes 1-2, N Curry 0-5 (4f), C McArdle 0-1, R Gaffney 0-1, S McGuinness 0-1 (1f), C Gormley 0-1, B Toal 0-1, C Carvill 0-1.
Lisbelow 2-11 Swatrag 2-16
Two clinically executed goals in the space of four minutes were the key results as a sharper Swatragh side had too much power to play with but outclassed Lisbellaw in the Ulster Intermediate Championship at Brewster Park.
The excellent PJ O’Connell grabbed the first and late starter Mick McCormack landed the second to give his side a 2-5 to 0-6 lead by the 22nd minute.
It was a lead that the hard-working Derry never lost and it gave them the momentum to go on to a convincing win.
Lisbelow had the ball in the net in the 63rd minute from towering centre-forward JP McGarry, but that hardly added to the gloss.
Their talisman John Duffy had a penalty ten minutes from time but he uncharacteristically failed to lift the arrow and his ground shot flew wide of the post.
But there was no doubting Swatrag’s superiority as O’Connell and centre-back James Friel performed superbly and were well supported by the dynamic Sean Martin Quinn, Paul Cunning and excellent goalkeeper Niall McQuillan.
Swatragh opened the scoring when lively winger Sean Martin burst through the Law defense and slotted over the fine point for the visitors.
Their cultured centre-forward Paul Cunning doubled that lead as Lisbelo looked under pressure early on.
Caolan Duffy’s free kick got them off target in the 9th minute and that set the stage for a thrilling encounter.
Lisbellaw made a bit of a splash and scored two points inside 90 seconds from veteran JP McGarry and Sean Corrigan,
Swatragh’s James Friel leveled matters from a free, but ‘Law hit back with a complex move of the match which ended with John Duffy’s strike over the fine point to put the Ernesiders 0-4 to 0-3 ahead.
Swatragh hit three wides from goal positions before O’Connell leveled matters only for Caolan Duffy to put ‘Law’ 0-6 to 0-5 ahead.
And then Svatrag scored a crucial goal in the 17th minute when O’Connell found himself in space deep in the Low defense and fired a shot into the roof of the net.
O’Connell turned provider four minutes later when he flicked a slither across Lowe’s area and McCormack headed the ball to the net from six yards.
O’Connell and Sean Martin Quinn added points and Caolan Duffy (0-2) replied for ‘Law’ as Swaragh led 2-7 to 0-8 at the break.
Paul Cunning and Caolan Duffy exchanged points on the restart, with Sean Martin Quinn and James Friel exchanging points with Adam McShea.
Freel and Duffy traded frees and O’Connell put the winners 2-13 to 0-11 up by the 48th minute.
Lisbello moved John Paul McGarry to full forward for the second half and made his presence felt.
But Duffy’s missed penalty ended their hopes of a comeback, although the Law continued to fight until the very end.
However, Swatrag was deadly accurate on the counter-attack.
Four minutes of extra time were played in which McGarry got in, but it was too little too late.
Eire Og Carrickmore 0-20 v 2-14 Carey Faughs (aet) – Carey won 3-2 on pens
Kerry Fauss went to penalties with pure heart and an indomitable determination to succeed, staying alive in a thrilling Ulster Club IHC quarter-final with late equalizers deep into stoppage time at the end of regular time and again in extra time.
Last year’s beaten finalists Carrickmore just couldn’t shake off a dogged opponent, they emptied the tank with a passionate performance at Pairc Colmcille.
And when it came to penalties they refused to bend, claiming victory with some fine saves from Stephen McGinn.
The Tyrone champions had built up a three-point lead by the end of the first quarter through Sean Og Grogan, Justin Kelly and Aidy Kelly, whose free-taking was outstanding throughout the contest.
But they were denied again and again by a defense in which Patrick Gillen, Sean McBride and sweeper John McBride stood tall.
A more physically fit Faughs side dominated the midfield battle through Caolan McCaughan and James McCouaig and 1-2 from the volley saw them go in front ten minutes before the break.
Conleath McKinley finished into the net from close range after John McBride’s long ball was not cleared.
The energy of Oisin Daly and Aidan Woods unsettled the Carey rearguard and with Kelly finding range with ease, Eire Og clawed it back but trailed by a point at the break, 0-8 to 1-6.
A strong start to the second half saw Kelly open up a two-point lead as they pressed hard with men in support, in contrast to Kerry’s long ball game which was often broken down by the colossal performance of centre-back Dermot Begley.
But the Saffron champions trusted their approach, closing the gap through McKinley and Conall McGlynn.
Conor Grogan put Eire Og ahead in stoppage time but there was still time for McKinley to find an equaliser, leveling at 0-15 to 1-12.
Seamus Sweney and Kelly led Eire Og by a point midway through extra time, but McGlynn slotted in for a vital goal just seconds after play resumed.
Again the Carrickmore men dug deep with points from Justin Kelly and Aidy Kelly but were again denied by a stoppage-time equaliser, this time from McQuaig.
In the penalty shootout, McKinley, James Black and Conor McBride scored for Fow, while Begley and Woods were on target for Eire Oggs and goalkeeper Stephen McGinn made it happen with saves from Aidy Kelly and Conor McElhatton.
Eire Og: C McElhatton; M. Kelly, D. Rafferty, A. Crossan; B. McGurk (0-1), D. Begley, S. Grogan (0-2); S Munro, S Sweeney (0-1); O Daly (0-2), A Kelly (0-10, 6f), D Sweeney; A Woods (0-1), S Og Grogan (0-1), J Kelly (0-2).
Kerry Fauss: With McGinn; Z McCaughan, S McBride, P Gillan; M McVeigh, J Black, C McGlynn (1-7, 0-6f); C McCaughan (0-1), J McCouaig (0-2); C McKinley (1-2), C McBride (0-2), J McBride; S Hunter, E Hill, C Cane.
Referee: Jay Connors (Donegal).
Bredagh 0-23 to 1-18 Burt
Bredagh breathed a sigh of relief when referee Tarlach Conway blew the whistle for full-time as they had survived a late Burt attack to book their place in the Ulster IHC semi-finals where they will face Swatragh.
A brilliant burst at the start of the second period saw the Down champions, playing on home turf at Pairc Esler, pull ahead by six points and looked set to get comfortably over the finish line.
But Burt battled ferociously to stay in the match, led by the impressive Liam McKinney, and a fortuitous goal on just the 52nd point ensured a nervy final few minutes for both teams.
Kieran Brady’s effort fell harmlessly around the area but Bredagh defender Mel Lavery was unable to deal with it and as the ball bounced off his hand to dribble over the line, play continued.
The sides were fairly evenly matched during the opening exchanges and were level at 0-5 after 20 minutes of play. A sensational score from near the touchline by McKinney pushed his side ahead before Bredagh took control and led by 0-12 to 0-10 at the break.
The eye-catching Donal Hughes increased the lead ten seconds into the second period and it inspired his team-mates, including goalkeeper Ian Galway, who deflected Brady’s effort with a superb save.
Eoin Kennedy recorded his third of the day to stretch the gap to six before McKinney, who finished with 0-14, rattled over for a brace. Then came the goal to level things but Bredagh star Hughes along with Kennedy put them ahead once more.
McKinney came to the rescue and had two chances to equalise, but Donal Sheehan’s Down men finished the stronger with three of the last four points to book their place in the semi-finals.
Brad top scorers: Donal Hughes 0-6, Ben Christie 0-5 (4f), Tiarnan Sheehan 0-3 (2f), Eoin Kennedy 0-3, Mark Patterson 0-2, Rory McCampbell 0-1, Joe Hanrahan 0-1, Jarlath McCollum 0-1, Sean Hughes 0-1, Mel Lavery 1-0 (own goal).
Burt Scorers: Liam McKinney 0-14 (12f), Aidan McKinney 0-2, Kieran Brady 0-1, Conor Gartland 0-1.