By Paul Keane

They continue to win with plenty to spare but AIB All-Ireland club SFC title favourites St Vincent's will probably feel they have reached another Leinster final without ever hitting top gear.

A strong finish that included a 59th minute goal from top scorer Shane Carthy, who nailed 1-3 overall, papered over the cracks at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park where the underdogs ran out seven-point winners.

In truth, it was nothing like a seven-point game with just one between the sides after 47 minutes and still only three in it with almost an hour on the clock.

Midfielder Carthy's excellence ultimately separated the sides while evergreen attacker Tomas Quinn hitting an important first-half goal and 1-2 in total.

The Marino men's reward is a third Leinster club final date in four seasons and a repeat of the 2014 final against Rhode of Offaly on December 11.

Vins will go into that game as favourites given the arsenal of talent they possess and they unloaded a number of talented players from the bench like Albert Martin and Armagh's Joe Feeney who scored significant points for them late on.

But boss Tommy Conroy will demand an improvement from his team all the same with a pattern emerging in recent weeks of doing just enough to see off their opposition.

Quinn's goal was all that separated the sides in the first-half with Vins taking a 1-7 to 0-8 lead at the interval.

Former Mayo star Enda Varley did the spade work for the goal with a great run down the right and pass across goals to the back post for Quinn to palm home.

Gary Rogers and Rian Brady were influential for Mullinalaghta and hit three of their first-half points as they sought to be come the first Longford club to reach the decider.

The third quarter was a bore with just a point registered by each side but Vincent's came into the game strongly in the closing period and showed a ruthless streak to get the job done with a late flourish, outscoring the hosts 1-5 to 0-2 from the 47th minute.

Carthy delivered 1-2 of that tally for Vins while AllStar Diarmuid Connolly, subdued on the afternoon, hit a point too. Mullinalaghta lost midfielder John Keegan to a straight red card four minutes into injury-time.

Meanwhile, Niall McNamee fired Rhode into their fifth Leinster final in 11 seasons as the Sean O'Mahony's fairytale was finally halted in Drogheda.

The Faithful star put his name to eight points and oozed class, as Rhode set up a repeat of the 2014 provincial decider with a 0-12 to 1-5 win.

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Scorers for St Vincent's: S. Carthy (1-3), T. Quinn (1-2, 2 frees), E. Varley (0-2), Cormac Diamond, R. Trainor, D. Connolly, A. Martin and J. Feeney (0-1 each).

Scorers for Mullinalaghta St Columba's:​ D. McGivney (0-3, 3 frees), R. Brady, J. Matthews and G. Rogers (0-2 each), J. McGivney and S. Mulligan (0-1 each).

St Vincent's: M. Savage; M. Concarr, J. Curley, C. Wilson; B. Egan, G. Brennan, Cameron Diamond; D. Murphy, D. Connolly; D. Burke, S. Carthy, Cormac Diamond; R. Trainor, E. Varley, T. Quinn.

Subs: J. Feeney for Murphy (41), A. Martin for Burke (41), N. Mullins for Cormac Diamond (49), K. Golden for Cameron Diamond (49), M. Loftus for Varley (61).

Mullinalaghta St Columba's: P. Rogers; P. Fox, S. Cadam, J. Mooney; S. Mulligan, D. McElligott, C. Brady; R. McElligott, J. Keegan; G. Rogers, J. McGivney, D. McGivney; J. Matthews, A. McElligott, R. Brady.

Subs: M. Cunningham for R McElligott (42), F. Mulligan for C Brady (54).

Referee: D Moore (Laois).