McGee shines for Bray in win over Magpies
BRAY EMMETS NEWTOWN 3-08 0-12
TWO goals from Cathal McGee and one from Adam Dixon helped Bray Emmets to a 3-08 to 0-12 victory over a battling Newtown in the Keating Trophy played under lights in Bray last Tuesday evening.
Originally fixed for Greystones, the game was switched to Old Conna and a decent crowd were on hand to witness a pacy encounter between two teams who were well aware of the benefits of a victory as opposed to a defeat in a competition where your Senior survival is very much at stake.
Bray Emmets took a 2-06 to 0-08 lead into the break. Cathal McGee had provided the first goal early on and Adam Dixon had got on the end of a fine move up the field to palm home to the back of Bryan Kennedy’s goal. Dixon’s goal was followed by a McGee point and all of a sudden, this dogfight was given a totally different complexion as the sides headed for the dressing room.
Key for Newtown early on was the impressive Sean Heffernan, Sean Gregory and Ross Davis with Shane Mooney trying his best to marshal the Magpie’s defence.
The key moment in the game arrived seven minutes into the second half. Newtown had started the second half well with a Sean Gregory pointed free and a Mark Fitzsimons point and then referee Robert Whelan called a foot block on Paul O’Keeffe and pointed to the penalty spot. Sean Heffernan stepped up but his placed shot rocketed off the Bray upright and the chance was gone.
Newtown were reduced to 14 shortly afterwards when Ciaran McGuirl was shown a black on top of an earlier yellow leaving John Murphy’s charges with a mountain to climb.
And try as they might, the Magpies just couldn’t reel their opponents in and McGee added his second goal after 28 minutes thanks to some fine play from Diarmuid Masterson, it helped Bray secure the victory and take a step towards Senior safety for 2018.
Newtown will look to their failure to score goals as one of the downfalls in this game. Chances did present themselves but the penalty miss and other spurned opportunities cost them dear in the end.
It was a decent effort from the Magpies but they will have to regroup now ahead of their next outing. Bray’s subsequent victory over Coolkenno leaves them safe.
Paul O’Keeffe; Cormac Martin, Conn Benville, Philip Haughton; Niall Gaffney, Ben McCormack, Des Kelly; Rory Breslin, Tadhg Dorcan; Marc Lennon, Adam Dixon, Niall McGraynor; Diarmuid Masterson, Cathal McGee, John O’Keeffe. Subs: John Henderson for P Haughton, Peter Quinlan for N Gaffney, J Walshe for T Dorcan.
Bryan Kennedy; Glen Carthy, Shane Mooney, Stephen Kelly; Oisin Greenan, Darren Walsh, Neil Martin; Paul O’Riordan, Mark Fitzsimons; Ross Davis, Luke Martin, Sean Gregory; Sean Heffernan, Ciaran McGuirl, Robert Greenan. Subs: Gearoid Sinnott for S Gregory,
Robert Whelan (Kilcoole)