IT may have been fairly low-scoring but Donegal and Monaghan played out a thrilling draw in the Ulster SFC semi-final at Breffni Park.

Conor McManus came to the Farney County’s rescue with three late frees, after their 14-man opponents had pushed ahead with an Odhran MacNiallais goal on 55 minutes.

In the curtain-raiser, Donegal minors withstood a Monaghan fightback to book their spot in the Ulster final on a scoreline of 3-15 to 2-12.

Antrim footballers’ season ended at the hands of Limerick on a scoreline of 2-6 to 0-9 at Corrigan Park. It was a surprise result as Antrim went into the game as favourites having gained promotion to Division Three last year, swapping places with Limerick who spiralled down in the other direction.

Longford brought the curtain down on a really difficult year for the Down footballers in another qualifier clash. This one went the distance to extra-time but Longford ultimately prevailed by 3-17 to 2-24.

There was also heartache for the Antrim hurlers, who lost their Christy Ring Cup final replay to Meath after extra time.

REIGNING Ulster Champions Tyrone clinched a semi-final victory over Derry on a scoreline of 1-13 to 1-8 at Clones. After the game, goalkeeper Finbar McConnell thanked the media, saying that the Tyrone team had been fired up by certain elements of the press: “I have got to thank the media on behalf of the Tyrone team for helping us win the match. Let the press keep on doing what they do, and maybe we can go on and win something major.

“We are not crying out for credit. A lot of people put too much emphasis on words like wee and small when describing Tyrone players but we have showed that the small boys have the big hearts.”

Peter Canavan led the way in the scoring stakes as they repeated their provincial semi-final victory of the previous year against the Oak Leafers with a contribution of 1-7. Also finding the target for the Red Hands were Adrian Cush, Ciaran McBride, Brian Gormley, Brian Dooher and Stephen Lawn.