INTERMEDIATE HURLING: Three teams from the group of death win quarter-finals

FBD Insurance Intermediate Hurling Championship quarter-finals

It was a full schedule in Tipperary’s third-tier competition last weekend with the quarter-finals taking place across the county, and plenty of unexpected results and high-quality encounters ensued.

In the first of the intermediate last eight ties, Moneygall got the better of Borrisokane for the second time this year with an easy 3-15 to 2-10 victory in Nenagh.

Despite a good first half from Borrisokane which included a goal from Ciaran Foley that came against the wind present in MacDonagh Park, they completely fell apart in the second half as Moneygall ran riot with two goals from Paddy Fogarty and a well-taken third from Joe Fogarty putting Moneygall in pole position and now has them in good shape heading for the last four.

A Jack Leamy-inspired Golden Kilfeacle caused one of the shocks of the weekend as they got the better of a fancied Drom & Inch team in the second quarter-final played on Saturday, with Tipperary U20 star Leamy bagging 0-15 of his side’s total in their comprehensive 3-18 to 1-11 victory.

An early first-half goal from Jack Bergin set the tone for the West team and they completely dominated the first 30, with a second goal coming before halftime from Niall Heffernan to put them in the driving seat.

And they had no problem holding onto that lead in the second half with Tom Byrnes' goal less than a minute into the second half sealing an impressive win for Golden Kilfeacle.

The final game of Saturday’s action was unexpectedly one-sided as Kilsheelan Kilcash breezed past an in-form Cappawhite side in Cahir, thanks to a blistering first half where they led 1-16 to 0-4 at the break, with Kilsheelan’s goal coming from Tipperary forward Mark Kehoe.

Cappawhite made some changes at halftime and fought back well scoring three second-half goals through Dara McCarthy, and Ryan Renehan (2) to bring the game back to just four points going into second-half stoppage time.

A couple of poor wides from Cappawhite in the next few minutes stifled their comeback in a big way though, and Kilsheelan held out for victory with scores from Barry Kehoe and Mark Stokes steadying the ship for the south team who held on for success on a 1-23 to 3-12 scoreline.

Finally, Boherlahan Dualla always had Knockavilla Donaskeigh Kickhams at arm's length in the last quarter-final on Sunday in Cashel, as they won out on a 0-20 to 0-15 scoreline in harsh conditions out West.

Kickhams started the game strongly and took a 0-3 to nil lead after five minutes thanks to scores from Lorcan Carr and Stephen Browne (two frees).

They extended that lead up to the 22nd minute mostly through Browne frees but also had contributions from Jamie Duncan and Ben Ryan from play to make it 0-9 to 0-5, but Boherlahan finished the half strongly with the final four points coming from three Tomas Ryan frees and a long-range Dylan Fogarty point leaving the sides level at the break.

Slowly though, Darragh Hickey led his Boherlahan team into a groove as they took control of the game in the final quarter of the game after Euan Ryan and Jack Kirby had scored the only two points of the first 15 minutes of the second half to give the Sash the advantage.

In the end, it was one-way traffic as Boherlahan outscored Kickhams by 0-8 to 0-5 to see out the win by five points.

FBD Insurance Intermediate Relegation semi-finals

Elsewhere, there were also two relegation semi-finals down for decision over the course of last weekend, the first of which seen Arravale Rovers and Upperchurch Drombane face off in Dundrum.

And it was a tight encounter with the loser of this game expected to be in real trouble for the drop. Arravale Rovers found their way to victory though with a very narrow 0-20 to 0-19 win, and the Tipp Town men had the better of the first half and took a 0-14 to 0-10 advantage at halftime.

They had extended the lead to six points after the first ten minutes of the second half but Upperchurch dug deep to drag themselves back into the game, with Pat Shortt frees along with scores from Pakie Bourke and Matthew Greene bringing them back into the game, but Arravale managed to hold out and find the scores to claim a narrow victory.

In the other relegation semi-final played on Sunday in Borrisokane, it was an all-north affair as Shannon Rovers and Kiladangan played off and it was the Rovers who found their way to victory after an extra time epic against their near neighbours.

A tight first half had very little between the teams with Rovers taking a narrow 0-8 to 0-5 lead in at half time, and they looked good for the win after the second half fare, as they pushed on despite an early Martin Minehan goal for Kiladangan at the start of the half. However, leading by three going into injury time, Kiladangan substitute Eoin Kelly found a last-gasp goal to equalise and send the game to extra time.

But a Conal Moran-led Shannon Rovers were full value for their win after the final whistle went after extra time, as they controlled the final 20 minutes despite two goals from Kiladangan through Aidan Ryan and Ruairi Gleeson.

Shannon Rovers will be grateful for a brilliant individual display from Conal Moran who finished the day with a very impressive personal haul of 0-8 from play, while Tom Hogan’s free taking was key throughout in the win.