It was the blue side of the mountain in the north west enclave of Meath that was alive and singing following this epic quarter final clash at Kells last Sunday.
Uncharacteristically of this year's Oldcastle side, they neglected their trademark quick start to games this year as Ballinlough were the livelier of the two throughout the first half.
Peadar Byrne got proceedings going with an early point for Ian Kearney's men after a fine effort on the right kicking into the town end. It was to be a rare sight as Thomas Rahill had a great battle with the county man and put in a man of the match performance.
Ballinlough maintained their good start to lead 1-07 to 0-04 at the break. Seamus Kiernan reshuffled his Oldcastle pack early during the second half to good effect, with all substitutions paying off.
However when Ken Rothwell fired Ballinlough ahead by two in the dying moments of normal time, it looked like it was the men in red who were about to progress before Ronan Farrelly pointed to leave the bare minimum between them, until Cormac Reilly awarded Oldcastle a free in the sixth minute of injury time.
The free was 40 yards from the Ballinlough goal and with it was Oldcastle's last opportunity, 19 year old Paddy Gilsenan showed nerves of steel as he pulled the trigger to leave the sides level at 0-13 to 1-10.
Seamus Kiernan had his men primed well as their superior fitness stood to them for that extra time period as they reeled off 1-3 without reply, Nicky Galligan netting as Oldcastle finished victors on a scoreline of 1-16 to 1-10.