McDermott the ace for Ballinagh

County star Niall McDermott showed his class in guiding holders Ballinagh to a gritty 0-19 to 2-11 victory in their Cavan SFC group stage clash with neighbours Denn at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The elusive corner-forward notched eight points, four from play, to help deny the underdogs a shock win after they had plundered goals through Colin Kiernan and Ben Conaty.

Elsewhere, it took an injury-time free from Stephen Monaghan to secure a dramatic 1-13 to 1-13 draw for Ramor Utd against Castlerahan. Earlier Ramor midfielder Anton O’Reilly had goaled to propel his side into a 1-7 to 0-8 interval lead.