Battling Nire keep Stradbally five-in-a-row bid on hold

Stradbally 0-6 Nire 0-6

Stradbally and the Nire finished level for the third time in the last four deciders, and while it was the challengers who salvaged a last-gasp reprieve with a brace of late points from Shane and Martin Walsh, it was Stradbally who were most relieved that their record -equalling five-in-row title charge is still on track.

The game began at a frenetic pace with each side in turn carving out early chances. But while the tempo never dropped to any significant degree the quality of the football didn't always measure up.