Cavan have reached the Ulster senior football championship semi-finals after beating Antrim 1-20 to 0-10 at Corrigan Park in Belfast.
The venue was holding an Ulster Championship game for the first time in over 70 years and the Breffni men emerged victorious after a dominant display.
The game started slowly as both sides faced quite an influential wind that saw numerous missed early opportunities for Cavan and Antrim failed to capitalise on their wind advanatge.
Cavan steadily maintained possession but scored only three points in the opening 20 minutes, with Antrim eventually getting off the mark on 24 minutes courtesy of a point from Ryan Murray.
Antrim’s Ryan Murray brought the teams within a point of each other on 35 minutes by scoring back to back points as Cavan led 0-7 to 0-6 at the break.
The second half opened with promise for Antrim as Conor Murray brought the sides level with an equalising point. However Cavan responded with points from Patrick Lynch (three), Gerard Smith (two) and Raymond Galligan.
Lynch was making his championship debut and he marked the day in style hitting eight points overall including a brace from play.
The visitors moved eight points clear on the hour mark when Gearoid McKieran found the back of the net. A major contribution after Antrim's Jamie Gribbin and Ryan Murphy added two more points to the Antrim scoreline.
Antrim’s Kevin Smalls, Jamie Gribbin and Ryan Murphy made commendable attempts to salvage the match for their side but it was clear that Cavan had found their stride in the game’s final stages.
Cavan finished with 13 points to spare and ran out comfortable winners. Mickey Graham’s men will now play either Armagh or Donegal on Sunday, 8th May.
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