Dreadnots finally uncover long-awaited silver lining
AFTER accumulating five senior final losses in recent years, Dreadnots finally got their hands on some silverware as they captured the Cardinal O’Donnell Cup in Stabannon on Saturday evening.
Played in front of a good sized crowd, this was a hugely entertaining contest from start to finish with a combined total of 3-31 on the scoreboard.
Dreadnots were in the ascendency for most of the hour and probably deserved their victory on the balance of play. However they were made fight all the way to the end and indeed but for a late Derek Shevlin block from a goal bound Jim McEneaney shot, the senior league title could have been nestling in Haggardstown rather than Clogherhead for the winter.
Peter Kirwan gave a fantastic exhibition in the corner for the winners finishing with a personal tally of 1-5, all scored from play. His performance will surely have drawn the attention of watching county manager Colin Kelly as he puts together his upcoming National League squad.
Geraldines will be very disappointed to have finished 2016 empty handed in a season that promised so much for them.
St Kevins will have to go at it again next Saturday against Bracknagh in the Leinster Club JFC after extra-time failed to separate them in Castlebellingham.
The dust has hardly settled on the 2016 season and already the draws for next year’s senior provincial championships are upon us. The draw takes place live on RTE2 television at 9.30pm on Thursday. Last week the draws took place for the other grades with Louth away to Wicklow in the Under 21 championship (winners play Laois), away to Laois in the Minor and away to Longford in the Junior competition. THE ink was hardly dry on his letter of resignation to the Clare County Board before Davy Fitzgerald was unveiled as new Wexford senior hurling manager. This will be the former goalkeeper’s 10th season in succession as an inter-county manager following his terms with Waterford and Clare.
He won the Liam McCarthy with his native county in 2013 but many will feel he underachieved in the three seasons since then such was the talent at his disposal. Similar to when he took up the Waterford post in 2008, Wexford are currently labouring somewhat in mid division but they have a proud tradition and the fiery Fitzgerald is sure to provoke a reaction. Wexford are a passionate county and it will be very interesting to see how the two get on. DUNDALK’S lead at the top of the Airtricity league was reduced to a single point after Sligo’s shock 3-0 win on Saturday night at Oriel Park. THIS defeat combined with Corks 5-0 win over Galway means only the bare minimum separates the top two sides as the Leesiders come visiting on Tuesday evening.
With just six matches remaining the outcome of this crucial rearranged top of the table clash will go a long way to deciding the outcome of the title race. Dundalk’s punishing recent fixture schedule was bound to throw up an opportunity for Cork but hopefully home advantage will swing the match in Dundalk’s favour.
No matter what the outcome on Tuesday Dundalk face travelling to Tallaght on Friday and Longford on Monday for two more league outings before returning to the Dublin venue to face Zenit on the Thursday. Is there a busier soccer team in Europe at the moment?
Drogheda went down 2-1 to Limerick at the weekend but if they can avoid defeat to UCD at home next Saturday then they are guaranteed a play-off position.
With just three games played in the World Cup qualifiers Ireland find themselves in an excellent position at joint top of Group D.
Following a great result in Serbia last month where we came from a goal down to grab a late equaliser, Martin O Neill’s side gained full points from this weeks two encounters with Georgia and Moldova.
Some media pundits gave O’Neill a hard time after the performance against Georgia at home on Thursday but they were soon made eat their words as the same opposition ran the Welsh ragged on Sunday and deserved to leave Cardiff with more than a share of the spoils.
Our next three fixtures will have a huge bearing on the outcome of the group. We face Austria in Vienna next month followed by home games in March against Wales and in June against Austria.
The win over Moldova saw the competitive debut of Calum O Dowda who came on a second half replacement for the injured Shane Long.
As mentioned in this column previously Calum is the grandson of the late Brendan O Dowda from Dundalk who enjoyed international acclaim as a tenor.
He was also a very accomplished athlete and Gaelic footballer captaining the Louth minor team to the Leinster title in 1942. LAST weeks Sideline bet Spark Plug was a non-runner at Newmarket. This week we go for Ireland captain Seamus Coleman’s Everton to get a draw at Man City in the Premiership on Saturday at 7/2.