Tommie Larkins 0-21 Pearses 1-14: Larkins led by Jason Flynn were more economical with their chances in the first half of this game played in Duggan Park, Ballinasloe. That gave them a lead which they held until the final whistle. Pearses never gave up and cut the margin to three in injury time, but time ran out and Larkins progressed to the Quarter-Final.
The teams were level 0-3 each after six minutes. Tom Flannery (2) and Adrian Bellew the scorers. Flynn and Kevin McHugo on target for Larkins. In the next 15 minutes Larkins added six points in-a-row to take a commanding lead. There was a Pearses goal chance for Lee Murphy and Pearses hit some wides, before Emmett Ward broke the scoreless spell with a point from the left wing. The remaining 10 minutes seen a more even scoring spread as the teams shared 0-3 each. Half-time score: Larkins 0-12 to 0-7.
Larkins had pushed into a nine point lead after 11 minutes of the second half, Flynn with all bar one of their 0-5 in this spell. The final quarter was Pearses’ best spell as they tried to rescue the result, outscoring the Ballinakill-Woodford side 1-6 to 0-5. A Cyril Donnellan 21’ was stopped on the line in the 24th minute. He picked up a second yellow card in injury time but despite being reduced to 14 Pearses manufactured a penalty. Flannery sent it to the net and the margin was suddenly down to 3, however Larkins responded at the other end with an insurance score to seal the win.
Pearses: F Flannery; S Raftery, T Kenny, R Lally; A Bellew (0-1), R Bellew, K Hardiman; J Gelston, R O’Neill; C Donnellan (0-1), E Ward (0-2), S Hardiman (0-1); G Lally, T Flannery (1-8), L Murphy. Subs used: C Ward (0-1), D Wynne, E Cunniffe, B Sweeney. Ref: C Browne.