Dreadnots’ big guns grind down Geraldines

THE

was top-drawer stuff as he accelerated away from his marker before rifling an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net - 1-1 to 0-3.

Dreadnots weren’t about to implode, though - quite the reverse in fact as they took a firm stranglehold on the game by scoring five points without reply to lead 0-8 to 1-1 by the 25-minute mark.

Califf (free) and Paraic Smith pointed to soften the blow of McEneaney’s piledriver, before Pat Lynch and Richard Kirwan combined to put Cathal Lynch in for a single that could easily have been a goal as he blasted over the bar.

Smith put a goal between the teams before Padraig Rath got forward to kick Dreadnots’ eighth score.

They were proving equally effective in defence, typified when four players surrounded Michael Rogers and forced the Gers man to cough up possession. However, McEneaney did make his presence felt by converting a free and Dara Hamill then pointed after good approach play by Sean Thornton.

Dreadnots could have re-established a five-point lead on 29 minutes when Cathal Lynch released Smith who went for precision over power and Darren Kearney got down well to parry the shot.

Instead of Colm Donnelly’s charges coming up to half-time looking comfortable, they suddenly found themselves trailing when McEneaney lofted a teasing delivery towards the square with unerring accuracy and Rogers, with his back to goal, rose above keeper Kenneth Shevlin to fist the ball to the net.

Going into the break the sides were level - 2-3 to 0-9 - after Cian McEvoy won a soft-looking free that was converted by Califf on the stroke of half-time.

By comparison the second period was a more untidy affair, not helped in the final quarter by heavy rain which made conditions greasy underfoot.

Scores were harder to come by and by the 46-minute mark the sides were still level after Pat Lynch and Califf (free) traded points with Hamill and Thornton.

Lynch took a heavy knock in taking his point and was clearly hampered in the latter stages, while both teams ended the game with 14 men after Dreadnots’ Chris Mulroy and his counterpart James Craven received second yellow cards in different incidents.

Craven’s offence in the 50th minute was doubly punished as Smith converted the resulting free to edge Dreadnots in front, 0-12 to 2-5.

Anthony Williams rapped a goal attempt off the post before Peter Kirwan squeezed a shot between the posts to give the Clogherhead side a two-point advantage.

There was one anxious moment for Dreadnots when Neacy’s low ball towards the square was almost touched in by the boot of Glen Trainor, but in the main the Gers forwards were losing out in their individual battles and McEneaney was being forced to play deeper and deeper in an attempt to win possession.

Smith made it a goal between the sides by converting a 60th-minute free that was brought forward for dissent.

McEneaney tried to drop a 45-metre free into the square in an attempt to conjure an equalising goal deep into stoppage time, but instead he over-cooked his kick and it ended up in a wide before Califf burst down the other end to make absolutely sure with a long-range point. DREADNOTS: Kenneth Shevlin; Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath 0-1, Derek Shevlin; Anthony Williams, Cian McEvoy, Cathal Lynch 0-1; James Califf 0-5 (4f), Fergal McGuigan; Pat Lynch 0-3, Paraic Smith 0-4 (2f), Conor Campbell; Peter Kirwan 0-1, Richard Kirwan, Chris Mulroy.

GERALDINES: Darren Kearney; Ryan Trainor, James Craven, Nicky Mackin; Sean Thornton 0-1, Gareth Neacy, Paul Clarke; Shaun Callan, Matthew Corcoran; Conall Hoey, Paddy Hoey, Michael Rogers 1-0; Dara Hamill 0-2 (1f), Jim McEneaney 1-2 (0-1f), Glen Trainor. Subs: Stephen Reidy for Clarke (30+), Shane O’Hanlon for Callan (49), Josh Arrowsmith for Hamill (58), Gerard Hoey for Corcoran (58).

REFEREE: Stephen Johnson