THERE WERE wins on the field of play for Naomh Éanna, Ballinastragh Gaels and St. Fintan's/Our Lady's Island in the quarter-finals of the O'Loughlin Cup Minor football competition on Sunday last, while the Clonard and Bannow-Ballymitty combination known as New Line Gaels were unable to field a team at Grantstown and at short notice were forced to concede a walkover to Fethard.

The match of the day was at Ferns where the local team gave it everything but just fell short in the end, as the Kilanerin/Tara Rocks combination won through to next Sunday's semifinal by the narrowest of margins.

Ballinastragh had by far the better start and after 20 minutes against wind and hill they led by 1-2 to nil.

Accurate cornerforward James Mordaunt and influential midfielder David Conway accounted for the opening points inside the first five minutes, with lively centreforward Mark Boland securing the goal from a welltimed Brian Doyle handpass early in the second quarter.

In truth, Ballinastragh could and should have been much more ahead by that stage, but their tendency to go for goals resulted in some good saves by the Ferns goalie, David Murphy, and his fellow defenders.

The very accurate Ferns free-taker, Patrick Breen, opened his team's account with a brace of points from placed balls in the 21st and 24th minutes, and they got the perfect boost when Keith Breen raced through for a fine individual goal two minutes before the break.

Patrick Breen's third pointed free gave the home team a narrow lead (1-3 to 1-2) just before referee Paddy Stamp blew the whistle for half-time.

Ballinastragh started the second-half as well as they did the first, with James Mordaunt, Jack Kavanagh and Mossy Quigley kicking over a point apiece before five minutes had elapsed, but they soon suffered a blow when Matthew Corrigan was on hand to score Ferns' second goal.

It was point for point from that to the end, with the scores coming from Mark Boland, James Mordaunt from a '45 and substitute Conor Devitt for Ballinastragh, and Patrick Breen mostly from frees replying for Ferns.

Mordaunt scored the winning point from play with four minutes remaining, and Ferns had a late chance to equalise but a kick tailed wide.