St Galls 0-11 Mayobridge 0-8: The controversial dismissal of Mayobridge's Benny Coulter midway through the second half, sounded the death knell for the Down champions' provincial ambitions in Newry yesterday.
Coulter seemed more sinned against at the time. He had already won a free after a heavy tackle and was preparing to take it when he was jostled from behind by a St Gall's player.
The Down man's reaction was instinctive, but still looked relatively innocent in terms of the general play in this passionately contested struggle. However, referee Joe McQillan saw it otherwise and, to the astonishment of most people in the ground, showed the red card to the Mayobridge man.
That moment should have signalled the total collapse of all Mayobridge resistance. They were already a man down after Kieran O'Hare had been sidelined in the 34th minute. Even with the full complement of players they had been comprehensively outplayed by the Belfast team.
St Gall's led 0-6 to 0-3 at half-time. The Falls Road men swarmed all over the experienced Down champions from the very start. Kevin McGourty's form at midfield forced Mayobridge to withdraw Coulter from their attack to try to stem the tide.
But it had little effect, other than to blunt the home side's attack, which failed to score from play in the first half. By contrast, St Gall's cut the home defence to pieces, amassing points through Karl Stewart, Kevin McGourty, Ciarán Crossan, Seán Burns and Aidan Gallagher.
The introduction of Mickey Linden at half-time briefly promised better things for Mayobridge. Inside a minute, he released Coulter who finished the move with a point. But then it all started to go sour. Three minutes later, O'Hare was off.
Within five minutes St Gall's had provided points for Burns (2) and Karl Stewart, and, as the match went into its final quarter, the loss of Coulter seemed to have squashed Bridges' last hope. Instead, it prompted them to play to form for the first time. It took a brilliant save from Patrick Murray to deflect a fierce Mickey Walsh shot over the bar in the 49th minute.
Adrian Barry squeezed through for another point and, after the dismissal of Burns, reduced the deficit again in the 53rd minute. Walsh then narrowed the gap to a single point.
At this stage, it looked as though the Down side would salvage something from the game, but the sending off of Declan Rooney, with a second yellow, effectively crushed their resistance.
St Gall's rallied to survive the dying blitz from the now weary Down dozen and went on to clinch their place in the final with two Stewart points.
The action did not all end with the final whistle as McQuillan required protection from the vigorous representations of Mayobridge players.
ST GALLS: P Murray; S Kennedy, A Healey, C Brady; G McGirr, A McClean, P Gribben; C Crossan (0-1), A Gallagher (0-1); K Niblock, S Burns (0-3, one free),T O'Neill; K Stewart (0-5, two frees), K McGourty (0-1), C McCann. Subs: C McGourty for McCann; R Gallagher for C Crossan; C McGourty for Kevin Niblock; G McCarren for A Healey.
MAYOBRIDGE: S Featherstone; S O'Hare, B Grant, G Barry; R Sexton, F Poland, K O'Hare; D Rooney, E Woods; N Sexton, B Coulter (0-2, one free), A Barry (0-1); J Quinn, M Walsh (0-2, one free), R Coulter (0-3, three frees). Subs: M Linden for J Quinn, C Garvey for R Coulter
Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).
