Dreadnots have it easy as they reach Cup Final
Dreadnots 1-18 S O’Mahony’s 1-7
DREADNOTS will play Geraldines in the 2016 Cardinal O’Donnell Cup Final following their fine win over the 2015 beaten finalists Sean O’Mahony’s in Clogherhead on Sunday afternoon.
Paraic Smith opened the scoring on three minutes with a point from a free, before was cancelled out shortly afterwards with a Conor Finnegan free.
The Dreadnots then took control of the game with six unanswered points through Smith, Peter Kirwan (2), Anthony Williams, Barry Faulkner and Richard Kirwan.
In the 22nd minute Sean O’Mahony’s were dealt a huge blow when county star Keith McLaughlin was shown a straight red card following an off-the-ball incident. When things settled down Stephen Kilcoyne pointed for the O’Mahony’s, but Dreadnots responded when Peter Kirwan kicked his third point from a free.
Sean O’Mahony’s got themselves back into the game following an excellent move which resulted in a David Dowling goal to close the gap to two. Still, Dreadnots again responded well and they kicked two quick points from the lively Conor Campbell and Chris Mulroy to leave them five ahead at the break.
From the throw in the second half Chris Mulroy extended the Clogherhead men’s lead to six. Conor Finnegan pointed from a free a minute later, but five unanswered scores for the Dreadnots from Paraic Smith (3), Barry Faulkner and Peter Kirwan left the O’Mahony’s with a mountain to climb.
Two Conor Finnegan points and one from Conor Martin closed the gap to eight, but further singles from Smith, Dermot Campbell and Pat Lynch put an end to any prospect of a fightback from the men from the Quay.
With time up Conor Finnegan pointed a free for the Sean O’Mahony’s and in injury time Richard Kirwan finished off the scoring when he fisted a Paraic Smith pass to the back of the net to copper-fasten that intriguing final meeting with the Geraldines. DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham; Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath, Derek Shevlin; Anthony Clarke, Ronan Byrne, Barry O’Brien; Keith McLaughlin, John O’Brien, Johnny Connolly; Shane Brennan, Conor Martin; Niall McLoughlin, Ben McLaughlin 0-2, Conor Finnegan 0-2; Stephen Kilcoyne 0-2, David Dowling 1-1, Stephen Fisher. Subs: Christopher O’Neil for Barry O’Brien, Barry Mackin for Johnny Connolly. Williams 0-1, Cian McEvoy, Dermot Campbell 0-1; Fergal McGuigan, David O’Brien; Barry Faulkner 0-2, Paraic Smith 0-6 (4f), Conor Campbell 0-1; Peter Kirwan 0-4 (3f, 1 ’45), Richard Kirwan 1-1, Chris Mulroy 0-2. Subs: Pat Lynch for Barry Faulkner, Darragh Shevlin for Chris Mulroy. SEAN O’MAHONY’S: Kevin Brennan; Michael