Palatine advance to final

Palatine reached the Carlow SFC final after an 0-15 to 0-10 win over a fancied Rathvilly at Dr Cullen Park on Saturday and O’Hanrahan’s emerged 4-13 to 1-12 winners over Tinryland in a replayed quarter-final tie which required extra-time.

A super first half saw Palatine hit nine points from play as Rathvilly struggled to find any form. Rathvilly suffered the loss of left corner-forward Gary Dempsey for a second yellow card offence before the break and trailed 0-9 to 0-4.

Inspired by three fine points from former Sydney Swan, Brendan Murphy, Rathvilly hit back to cut the arrears to two points (0-10 to 0-8) in the second half but with the four Reid brothers and county senior full-back Conor Lawlor leading the charge, Palatine finished stronger and closed out the game with a flurry of late points.