Boyne faci
Gorey Boyne 27 3
BOYNE will face a real dogfight in the New Year to avoid a possible second consecutive relegation after suffering a big defeat in Wexford last Saturday.
This was potentially a pivotal game in the Drogheda club’s season as a victory would have lifted them into the top four, with qualification for next season’s All-Ireland Junior Cup a real possibility.
However, their failure to gain even a losing bonus point sees them now within a single point of the relegation play-off position despite having won their previous three matches.
Worryingly, the first two games of 2018 are against two of the title contenders, firstly Enniscorthy who have won seven games on the bounce and then neighbours Dundalk.
On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Clonattin the home side limited Graeme Eastwood’s men to mere scraps in the final third, although the visitors actually enjoyed the brighter start in terms of territory, pinning Gorey mainly in their half of the field.
That said, Boyne seemed to lack sufficient creativity to really trouble a home defence that tackled ravenously and most importantly held its shape throughout a gruelling 80-plus minutes.
A rare moment of Boyne invention almost saw Adam Brodigan released from Eoghan Duffy’s box kick, while Stephen Gardiner halted Duffy in his tracks when he broke through on 12 minutes.
Boyne felt their hosts were fortunate not to have one of their players sin-binned for taking out Duffy in the air, but only a penalty ensued.
Perhaps a red card could have been shown shortly after when Declan Moore received a punch which was clearly indicated by the referee, but again only a penalty resulted.
Boyne’s number eight and captain Karl Keogh did open the scoring with a successful kick on 15 minutes, but that was quickly cancelled out by a similar effort from the accurate Stephen Horan.
Before long Gorey surged into a lead they wouldn’t surrender when a clever short lineout throw from Barry O’Connor picked out the excellent Killian Breen and he teed up Gardiner to crash over the whitewash on 21 minutes.
The gap stretched to 14 points seven minutes later when James Nolan supplied Cork native David Shannon and he sped in at the far corner before touching down more centrally to make Horan’s conversion all the more straightforward.
Boyne now trailed 17-3 and their frustration was exacerbated two minutes before the break when another incision from their dangerman Duffy looked certain to end in a try. However, his teammate Kevin McCleery seemed to take his eye