Leitrim through to semi-finals

Tipperary looked a shadow of their former selves as Ciaran Duignan scored six points to guide Leitrim into the Tommy Murphy Cup semi-finals at Semple Stadium.

The absence of former All-Star Declan Browne, who was busy marrying his partner Niamh Sheehan in Fethard, was truly felt by Tipperary this afternoon as they reliquished their grip on the Murphy Cup in a 0-14 to 1-06 defeat.

Browne scored ten points in Tipp's recent win over Waterford and also chipped in with 1-07 as captain in last year's Murphy Cup final success against Wexford.

But without the presence of Browne and Liam Mulvihill, Tipp looked anything but champions.

Leitrim had the winning of the game when they hit five unanswered points to move 0-08 to 0-03 clear just before the interval.

An injury-time goal from Benny Hickey shook Tipp up for a while, but Seamus McCarthy's men were utterly lifeless after the break. It took them 25 minutes of the second half to register their next score from a Michael Phelan free.

By that time Leitrim had moved five points in front with the impressive Duignan (0-06), Donal Brennan (0-03) and Ronan Gallagher (0-02) all showing well. The visitors did have wing back Shane Foley dismissed for a second yellow card, seven minutes from time, but they deservedly held on.

Meanwhile, Martin McElkennon's managerial future could be in some doubt after Cavan were sent packing out of the Tommy Murphy Cup by Antrim.

Antrim beat the Breffni men by 2-14 to 2-9 with McElkennon admitting after the game at Casement Park that he is yet to make a decision on his immediate future.

The Tyrone man took over full-time from Eamonn Coleman last October, but has had a poor run – Cavan failed to earn promotion back to Division One of the National League and they fell to Down in the first round of the Ulster championship.

An Eddie Reilly goal helped Cavan go in at the break on terms at 1-05 to 0-08, but they had wing back Martin Cahill sent off early in the second half and goals from Kevin Brady and Sean McVeigh steered the Saffrons through to the semi-finals. Seanie Johnston grabbed a consolation goal for McElkennon's men in injury-time.