Clans pushed all the way by ‘Bellingham boys
CLAN NA GAEL O’CONNELL’S 2-12 1-13
CLANS got off to a winning start in an entertaining repeat of last year’s IFC final in Darver on Thursday night.
The Dundalk side made a whirlwind start with a couple of Jason Cullen points followed swiftly by a Mark McGeown goal making 1-2 to 0-0 after just five minutes.
But O’Connell’s came storming back and a Sean Cairns goal reduced the gap to the minimum before McGeown netted a second goal to make it 2-4 to 1-2.
After a shaky start O’Connell’s settled into the game and were just two points adrift at the break, 2-6 to 1-7.
Sean Cairns kicked the first point of the second half to leave one between the sides, but the Dundalk side replied with the next three points from McGeown, Conal McKeever and substitute Paul Crewe.
Three Quigley points made it a one-point game again and while there was some wayward shooting from both sides as the clock ticked down, the Clans managed to hold firm in a tense finale.
CLANS: Sean Smyth; Tiernan Reilly, Donal Boyle, Gerard Curran; Craig Long, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Robbie Curran 0-1(45); Conor Noonan 0-1, Ray McCabe 0-2; Jason Cullen 0-3, Conal McKeever 0-1, Stephen Coleman; Aidan McCabe 0-1, Mark McGeown 2-2, Paul Gore. Subs Paul Crew 0-1 for J. Cullen, Conal Cooney for S. Coleman, David McGeown for A. McCabe.
O’CONNELLS: Stuart Reynolds; Liam Kiernan, Salem Rifaie 0-1, Stefan O’Hanrahan; Micheal Cairns, Keith Woods, Jackie Agnew 0-1; Dean Stanfield, Sean Cairns 1-1; Paul McKeever 0-1, Robert Quigley 0-6(1f), Conor McGill 0-2; Matthew Reynolds, Conor Kiernan, Sean Connolly. Subs David Hoey for C. McGill, Kyle Daniels for M. Reynolds, James Luckie for S. O’Hanrahan, Jamie Kennedy 0-1 for S. Connolly, Cian O’Dwyer for D. Stanfield.