THE knock-out pairings in the Ross Oil Muskerry Junior A Football Championship are now known.

BY BRENDAN KENNEALLY

Aghinagh and Grenagh go directly to the semi-finals, while Clondrohid v Kilmichael and Donoughmore v Éire Óg are the quarter-final pairings.

The semi-finals will not involve any repeat matches so will not be known until after the quarter-final stage is decided.

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Aghinagh 6-14

Ballinora 1-1

As the scoreline suggests, this was a stroll for Aghinagh who led by 2-6 to 0-1 at half time and continued to pile on the scores in the second half of this Group 1 clash.

Con Buckley, Mathew McCarthy scored the first-half goals and Liam Twohig bagged the three goals in the second half. Points were shared by Con Buckley, Liam Twohig, Darragh O’Shea, William Coakley, Aodh Twomey, Mathew McCarthy, Seán O’Riordan and Luke Ring.

Andrew O’Sullivan got the Ballinora point and Darragh Byrne their late second-half goal.

In the same group, Donoughmore received a walk-over when Kilmurry conceded.

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Ballincollig 2-13 

Dripsey  1-10

Ballincollig needed to win this Group 2 game by nine points, considered an attainable objective in view of  Dripsey’s poor campaign to date, but for the third year in a row Dripsey reserved their best display for The Village.

Dripsey started well with points from Mark O’Connell and a two-pointer from his midfield partner George Feeney, but it was 0-6 apiece coming up to half time. A Dripsey goal from James Cotter had the underdogs leading by 2-6 to 0-6 at the break.

Ballincollig came out for the second half with all guns blazing and were level within five minutes with three points in a row.

At the three-quarter stage, the teams were level at 1-10 to 0-13 and Ballincollig’s chances of advancing seemed to be evaporating, but Dripsey lost a defender to a red card (second yellow). Ballincollig went at it with renewed energy and got two goals, in the 58th and 63rd minutes from Alan Cronin and Luke O’Mahony respectively. Only the goalpost denied them a third goal on 64 that would have yielded the scoring difference needed to get into the quarter final stage which goes to Clondrohid.

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Grenagh 2-14 

Clondrohid 3-8

Grenagh led by 0-4 to 0-2 after the first quarter, but a Clondrohid goal on 17 was a huge boost and Clondrohid led at half time by 1-5 to 0-7.

Grenagh struck for a goal two minutes into the second half and had another on 37 to lead by 2-8 to 1-6 and they led by nine points at the three-quarter mark 2-12 to 1-6.

Clondrohid battled on and a goal in the 50th minute cut the deficit to six points. A third Clondrohid goal on 58 minutes followed by a point meant that only three points separated the sides at the finish. Clondrohid’s fightback had earned them progression to the quarter-final stage.

Meanwhile, in Group 3, Kilmichael have caused the surprise here, their victory over Éire Óg, 2-15 to 2-12, giving them top spot in the group on scoring difference and a quarter-final meeting with Clondrohid.