Athlone pulled off the upset of round as they downed Rosemount 2-11 to 1-10 at Hogan Park in Moate on Saturday evening in the Shay Murtagh Precast Senior Football Championship quarter-final.
Leading 2-4 to 1-6 at the break thanks to Daniel Reid and Richie Greene raising the green flag, the Shannonsiders held off a Rosemount comeback in the second period with points from Reid and Ray Connellan securing their passage to the final four where they will take Tyrrellspass in a repeat of the 2016 semi-final.
But it was not all good news for the town as the 2019 Westmeath SFC champions Garrycastle surrendered the Flanagan Cup by losing a tight 1-8 to 0-10 contest in the dying seconds against The Downs at TEG Cusack Park on Sunday.
Conor Murray’s goal in the 19th minute gave the underdogs a three point advantage at halftime but Alex Gardiner’s accuracy enabled the holders to draw level on 60 minutes in spite of his teammates’ profligacy in front of the posts.
However with Gary Dolan’s men expected to go through once they achieved parity, Ciaran Nolan popped up deep into added on time to send Garrycastle packing.
