The Irish in Britain, including those of Irish descent, make up a significant part of the UK population. Here, you will find news, entertainment, events, sports and features from the local Irish Post newspaper.

By David Thorpe

London champions Fr Murphys came within inches of causing a major upset against top Sligo outfit St. Nathys in this hugely entertaining All-Ireland intermediate quarter-final at Ruislip on Saturday afternoon.

With 13 minutes remaining Murphy’s had reduced their deficit to just two points, despite Nathys having led by seven points at the interval.

Nathys are an extremely fit, well-organised and physical team, and in the opening half it looked as though they would run away with this match. They recorded the opening three scores, the best of them courtesy of Sandra Scully, who made a driving run down the wing and fired over on eight minutes.

When Aileen Hannon goaled for the Sligo champions 17 minutes in a rout looked on the cards as Nathys seemed on top in most areas.

But Murphys possessed the single best player on the pitch in their captain and full-back Claire Towey and as the Roscommon native grabbed hold of the defence, Murphys burst forward and clipped over points from Narelle Saward, Susan Byrne and Anne Marie O’Dwyer to leave the interval scores 1-8 to 0-3.

Fr Murphys had started to hit top form towards the end of the first-half, and were by far the better team in the third quarter.

They started to chip away at their deficit with points from the excellent duo of Shauna Keogh and Natalie O’Connor, and when Keogh lobbed a 13-metre free into the net on 41 minutes the London champions were just three points behind.

The first sign of nerves were starting to creep into the St. Nathys game but they upped their performance in midfield and their best player on the day Eithne Flanagan restored their momentum with a point.

Fr Murphys half-back line were driving forward at every opportunity and creating plenty of attacking chances but the scores simply wouldn’t come when they had the momentum and when the luck swung back Nathys direction they were much quicker to take their chances with Karen Lily and sub Aine Gormley goaling to break Fr. Murphys hearts.

The London champions can be extremely proud of their efforts. The game is developing at a rapid rate in London and Murphys could be the premier force in the county for many years to come.