Irelanders off to a flyer
DUNDALK YI DREADNOTS 1-7 0-7 CLAN NA GAEL ST FECHINS O’CONNELLS NEWTOWN BLUES
DUNDALK Young Irelands made the best possible start to the new season when they picked up two points in the Sheelan Cup Group E with victory over Dreadnots on Sunday morning.
Like many games in round 1, the wind was a significant factor as Young Irelands played with the elements in the second half and turned around a three point deficit to win by a similar margin.
There is no doubt that the Dundalk men will be happier with their performance overall as they battled gamely against the breeze in the opening period to restrict their opponents to a 0-4 to 0-1 lead at the break.
The Clogherhead were unable to maintain their superiority in the second period and the Young Irelands gradually clawed back the deficit before edging in front.
A goal from Aidan Skeeky ten minutes from the end ensured that Young Irelands came out on top. CLAN na Gael made the trip to St Fechins on Sunday morning and returned home with an encouraging victory to show for their efforts.
Although there were five points between the teams at the final whistle, that didn’t reflect the close nature of the game and it was a late goal from Mark McGeown that gave the scoreline a rather flattering look.
On a cold, breezy morning, the locals opened the scoring through Niall Devlin before two points from Danny Burnell were followed by another from Colm O’Neill.
Clan na Gael replied with points from Mark Newell and Stephen Coleman to leave the half time score at 0-4 to 0-2 in favour of the Fechins. Having played with a strong wind in the first half, St Fechins kicked seven wides, this came back to haunt them at the finish.
Playing into the breeze the Fechins extended their lead through Colm O’Neill only for Paul Martin to reply for the Clans two minutes later. Niall Devlin restored the three-point lead in the 20th minute, but this was to be the Fechins last score.
The Clans struck back to level before points from Stephen Fitzpatrick and JJ Quigley edged the Dundalk men ahead before Mark McGeown IT ended honours even at a windy Grove Field on Sunday morning as the home team staged a second half comeback after failing to register a score in the previous half hour.
The visitors, playing with a strong wind, got on the scoreboard after five minutes with a point from Derek Kierans before Ronan Levins doubled their lead a minute later. Robert Carr landed the next four points for the Blues three of which were frees and half back Cormac Reynolds made it 0-7 to no score after 23 minutes.
Carr extended his team’s lead and a brace of points from Luke Cormican and Kierans just before the half time whistle put the visitors 0-10 to 0-0 up at the break.
O’Connells had the wind advantage in the second half but it was the Blues who got the first point after the break from Kierans. Cue the O’Connells comeback, which started with three points in a row from Jackie Agnew all from frees, while further points from Stefan O’Hanrahan, Dean Stanfield and Conor Culligan reduced the margin to five after 50 minutes.
An excellent point from Ciaran O’Brien made it a four point game and from the resulting kick out the Blues keeper scuffed his clearance and Agnew was first to ball and went round him to put the ball into an empty net. Agnew then landed the equaliser with just about three minutes to go.
The visitors responded by gong up the field and regaining the lead with a free from Kierans, but the home team would not be denied and Culligan land the equaliser just before the final whistle.