Late points deny Dreadnots victory
TWO late points from Cooley denied the Dreadnots victory in an entertaining encounter played in Clogherhead on Saturday evening.
Cooley knew that they probably needed a victory to maintain any hopes of a top four finish while the Dreadnots were hoping to pick up two points to stay on top of the division. The home side opened up the scoring with James Califf and Cathal Lynch settling any early nerves for the Dreadnots.
Cooley were up and running after five minutes thanks to a Conor Rafferty score which was quickly followed by points from Shane Marks, Jason Long and Aoghain McGuinness.
In a tight first half the Dreadnots levelled the game after 15 minutes when James Califf made it 0-4 apiece.
There was a ten minute lull as neither team troubled the scoreboard as the game began to get scrappy. A point apiece from both sides late in the opening half meant the teams went in deadlocked at 0-5 each.
The Dreadnots began to get a grip of the game and showed why they are league leaders as Ronan Califf and James Califf scored in quick succession to edge a couple of points clear.
After 20 minutes of the second half Cooley had scored just a solitary point as the game looked to be getting away from them with the scoreboard reading 0-10 to 0-7 in favour of the Clogherhead side. However the men from the peninsula rolled up their sleeves and hit back to leave just a point between the sides.
A David O’Brien point stopped Cooley’s momentum putting the Dreadnots two points clear and with just a minute left on the clock it looked as though the home side would prevail. However late late scores from Ciaran Sheelan and Patrick
McGrath ensured the spoils were shared as the Dreadnots maintain a slender lead at the top of Division One. DREADNOTS: Derek Shevlin; Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath, Dermot Campbell; Anthony Williams, Cian McEvoy, David O Brien (0-1); James Califf (0-5), Fergal McGuigan; Dara Shevlin (0-2), Peter Kirwan, Cathal Lynch (0-1); Aaron Scullion, Ronan Calliff (0-1), Richard Kirwan (0-1). Sub: Dylan Kirwan for A Williams (BC).
COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Peter Thornton, Alan Page, Shane Marks (0-1); Luke White, Richard Brennan, Patrick McGrath (0-1); Keith White, James McShane; Ciaran Sheelan (0-2), Michael Kane, Jason Long (0-1); Patrick Sheelan (0-1), Conor Rafferty (0-3), Aoghain McGuinness (0-2). Subs: MJ Hanlon, James Loughran, Ultan Watters, Michael Rafferty, Sean McDonald.