Aughnasheelin & Gortletteragh set for relegation battle as Aughawillan & Dromahair ensure safety
Aughnasheelin and Gortletteragh will battle it out to avoid the drop to the Intermediate Championship in 2024 after Aughawillan and St Patrick's Dromahair repeated their final round group games victories to ensure safety for another year after Saturday's Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Relegation Semi-Finals.
Robbie Cunningham proved to be Dromahair's saviour as he scored the crucial goal two minutes from the end of normal time to ensure a 1-8 to 0-6 victory for the north Leitrim men against Aughnasheelin. As they had two weeks ago, Aughnasheelin led at halftime of a low scoring first half, 0-4 to 0-3.
Cunningham scored all of Dromahair's first half points but in the second half, the victors started to move clear with points from Darragh McMorrow and Jamie Conlon to put them two points clear but Aughnasheelin fought back to level midway through the second half. With the match in the balance and Aughnasheelin battling incredibly hard, two frees from Cunningham and his late goal ensured Dromahair's survival.
Aughnasheelin now head into a relegation final against a Gortletteragh team they shocked in the group stages but unfortunately for Gortletteragh, there was no shock result as Aughawillan cruised to a convincing 1-19 to 0-8 victory in Fenagh. The Willies set out their stall early as they led by six points after just 13 minutes, 0-7 to 0-1, and while Gortletteragh improved for the rest of the half, Aughawillan held a convincing 0-12 to 0-5 halftime lead.
Gortletteragh reduced the lead by a point early in the second half but an Aughawillan goal midway through the second period extinguished any hope of a comeback as the Willies cruised to a 14 point win, a one point improvement on their 13 point winning margin from the round four game.
It leaves 2022 Intermediate Champions Aughnasheelin facing 2020 Intermediate winners Gortletteragh to see who will be relegated back to the Intermediate grade for the 2024 season.