Wolfe Tones sail into semi-finals

Wolfe Tones..........................1-2-16 (23)

An Tochar(Wicklow)................2-2-9 (19)

Those that headed for the gates 10 minutes into the second-half to beat the traffic out of Ashbourne were confident of a big Wolfe Tones win in their Leinster SFC quarter-final against An Tochar, but by the time they got to their cars they must have thought their ears had deceived them as the Tones 'only' secured a four point victory over their Wicklow visitors.

The Meath champions looked comfortable when the outstanding Kyle Moran extended their lead to 14 points in the 40th minute, but An Tochar threw caution to the wind in the closing stages and outscored Wolfe Tones by 2-8 to 0-4 in the closing 20 minutes to ensure some frayed nerves.

Wolfe Tones looked disjointed in those closing stages and a pale shadow of the side that had been so utterly dominant for the previous 40 minutes.

An Tochar found gaps in the defence that weren't there earlier and as concentration levels dropped so to did Wolfe Tones advantage.

Despite An Tochar's late rally there was never a real sense that a complete recovery was on the cards for the Wicklow men. Wolfe Tones always seemed to have another bit of diesel left in the tank, enough to get them over the line.

Those fuel resources were seriously depleted for the final quarter as Wolfe Tones put in a serious shift for the first 40 minutes.

They controlled the game in every sector. Dominant in defence they limited An Tochar to just four points from play for the first 42 minutes, powerful on the break from half-back and lethal through midfield and into their half-forward line, the Meath side were impossible to contain.

They mixed slow attacks with fast, they delivered long high ball and low short passes, they kept the ball for significant periods, while at other times they moved with such pace they left An Tochar's heads spinning.

Just as they did in the county final against Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Wolfe Tones took their time on the ball early on to get a sense of their opponents approach. As An Tochar sat back and didn't press too aggressively Wolfe Tones were patient in their build up and took almost five minutes to open the scoring when Moran turned on the afterburners to race into space and loft over.

Less than a minute later Adam O'Neill sold a beautiful dummy before unleashing a shot goalwards that was tipped over by An Tochar goalkeeper Peter Byrne and even though Conor Fee settled the visitors with a seventh minute point it was all Wolfe Tones as Saran O Fionnagain brilliantly set up Oisin Martin to make it 0-3 to 0-1.

Moran clipped over his second, but An Tochar gave glimpses of their threat as Joe Heatly had a sniff of a goal, but was denied by a brilliant saving tackle before Oisin Cullen tapped over the consolation score.

That two-point lead because a 0-10 to 0-2 advantage in the space of 13 minutes as two points each from O Fionnagain and Moran, and one for Caolan Ward and Martin pressed home Wolfe Tones' advantage. Adam O'Neill also rattled the crossbar with a fierce drive in that spell.

Cullen added a point for An Tochar before the break, but trailing by 0-3 to 0-10 at the interval there was a sense it was damage limitation for the Wicklow men.

Ben Reilly stretched Wolfe Tones' lead to eight within 15 seconds of the restart and even though JJ Brady responded before the first minute of the second period was complete it still seemed like one-way traffic.

Reilly saw a punched goal chance cleared off the line before Cian O'Neill lofted over a two-pointer after great work by Shane Glynn. Moran added his fifth and after O'Neill bagged a brilliant goal Reilly tagged on another point to make it 1-15 to 0-4 by the 37th minute.

John Paul Nolan traded a free with Moran's last score, but even after Conor Fee blasted a fine goal through a forest of legs in the 42nd minute to make it 1-5 to 1-16, there still seemed to be no way back for An Tochar.

Conor Fee and Martin traded points to maintain the 11 point gap into the final quarter, but then An Tochar threw all they had at Wolfe Tones.

A free from John Paul Nolan and a point from Joao Vitor Fagundes were responded to by Thomas O'Reilly's only score, but when JP Nolan landed a two-point free after a Conor Fee point An Tochar had the gap back to 1-11 to 1-18 by the 57th minute.

Caolan Ward's expertise from two-point range saw him land a free from 45 metres to settle Wolfe Tones in the 60th minute, but in injury-time JP Nolan found the net from a 13 metre free and then Luca Nolan kicked a massive two-pointer to leave just four between the sides, but that score came with just 10 seconds of the four minutes of announced injury-time remaining and so it was with much relief that Wolfe Tones welcomed the final whistle as they secured just their second ever Leinster Club SFC win and a semi-final spot against Westmeath side The Downs

Wolfe Tones: Ciarain O Gallachoir; Conor Sheppard, Shane Glynn, Andrew Crawford; Oisin Martin (0-3), Ross Gallagher, Adrian Crawford; Adam O'Neill (0-1), Eoin Donegan; Caolan Ward (0-3 one two-point free), Thomas O'Reilly (0-1), Kyle Moran (0-6); Ben Reilly (0-2), Cian O'Neill (1-2 one two-pointer), Saran O Fionnagain (0-2). Subs: Rioghan O Beaglaoich for Adrian Crawford 47m, Evan Curley for O Fionnagain 55m, Fiachra Ward for O'Neill, Rian Fox for O'Neill both 60m.

An Tochar: Peter Byrne; Luke Kenny, Matthew Fox, Eoin Murphy; Gavin Fogarty, Matt Nolan, Luca Nolan (0-2 two-pointer); Oisin Cullen (0-2), Ger Byrne; Lorcan Smith, Darragh Fee, Joe Heatly; Conor Fee (1-3), Eanna Nolan, John Paul Nolan (1-4 1-2 frees, one two-point free). Subs: Gavin Kenny for Murphy, JJ Brady (0-1) for Smith both 26m, Joao Vitor Fagundes (0-1) for D Fee half-time, Jamie Salley for L Kenny 40m.

Referee: Kevin Williamson (Offaly).