Furlong goal inspires Kiltegan
The sides were level seven times until Kiltegan’s full-forward and match-winner Seanie Furlong drilled home the vital second goal at the end of the third quarter to open a 2-11 to 1-10 lead.
Éire Óg, who held a narrow 1-8 to 1-6 half time lead, tried to respond with points from Darren Hayden, Daniel Keane and Billy Cuddihy, along with a Sam Thompson goal.
However, they never succeeded in shackling Furlong, who finished with 1-7.
St Mary’s, who won the title in 2011, are the first team to make it through to this year’s semi-finals after a 0-9 to 0-8 win over Newtown at Aughrim.
Newtown officials could scarcely contain their anger when their appeals for a penalty for a foul on Ross Odlum were waved away by the referee.
Newtown led 0-5 to 0-4 at half time with Dean Odlum leading by example. Brother Ross was denied a goal at the start of the second half when his effort was brilliantly saved by John Corcoran at the expense of a 45.
In that second half Eamonn Rossiter at wing-forward started to weave his magic for St Mary’s and three excellent points – bringing his total to five – were key to seeing the Saints over the line.
The line-up for the Wicklow SHC semi-finals was completed on Saturday evening at Arklow as a result of Bray Emmett’s 3-14 to 1-14 win over St. Patrick’s.
Bray needed this win to leapfrog Avondale and claim the last semi-final place, thereby joining champions Glenealy, league champions Carnew and St. Patrick’s in the last four.
The Bray men led 1-7 to 0-3 after 20 minutes but, that apart, this was a keenly contested match with rarely more than two points between the sides until Eoin Mason and Willy Keane sealed Bray’s win with late goals.
Bray had to play for 40 minutes with 14 men after defender Harry Stephenson received a straight red card, but their victory was underpinned by a superb display from gifted corner-forward Mikey Lee who finished with 1-10.
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