Gaels blow Raghs away to seal spot in last eight
DUNDALK Gaels stormed into the quarter-finals and gave themselves every chance of topping Group A with a commanding display against O Raghallaigh’s on Sunday night.
However, even the final group placings could have been done and dusted had Malachy O’Rourke’s side converted even half of the plethora of chances they fashioned in Dunleer.
All bar one of their scores were crafted from open play, but they also kicked a whopping 15 wides in a disappointingly one-sided contest.
Missing Ben Rogan, among others, O Raghallaigh’s were a pale shadow of the side that held both of last year’s finalists, St Patrick’s and Sean O’Mahony’s, to draws and on the evidence of this display they have a bit to find to avoid slugging it out for relegation for the remainder of the summer.
While Gaels were kicking and missing points from all angles, the Drogheda men only conjured three scores from open play over the hour and could have no complaints about the result - in fact, they probably got off lightly.
In terms of the group permutations, the Gaels will be hoping St Mary’s don’t beat O Raghallaigh’s by more than nine points this Sunday and it’s even simpler for Jim Matthews’ side - win or bust!
They certainly won’t be dwelling on this display too long in their preparations for the return trip to Pairc Mhuire.
It started to go pear-shaped from the opening minute when Shane Rice fed full-forward Errol Boyle, who turned his man and rattled the roof of the net.
Barry Flanagan got O Raghallaigh’s off the mark with a free, but over the next 10 minutes the game drifted out of sight.
Peter McGinnity continues to roll back the years for the Gaels and fisted their second score before Boyle added a point to his realier goal.
David McComish should have raised another green flag but found the side-netting, but Sean Murray made it 1-3 to 0-1 with his first point of the evening.
The Gaels were rampant and had already racked up four wides at that stage, but it made little difference once Oisin Murray fired home the rebound from a blocked Sean Fee strike to make it 2-3 to 0-1.
Ruairi Moore offered a sliver of hope to O Raghallaigh’s, converting three frees on the spin, but the North Road outfit had to wait until injury-time for their first score from play, alebit a fine effort from midfielder Alan Doyle.
Sean Murray kicked two more points either side of that score to make it 2-5 to 0-5 at the break.
The Gaels clocked up seven more wides in the second quarter bringing their first-half tally to 11, but O Raghallaigh’s just couldn’t capitalise on the wastefulness and the sides traded just two points in the third quarter.
The gap grew to eight and never dropped below six as the Gaels coasted home.
They now await the outcome of Sunday’s final game to determine who they play in the quarter-finals.
If they top the group it’s most likley to be Naomh Mairtin and if St Mary’s outgun them against O Raghallaigh’s, Newtown BLues will be their likely opponents, assuming O’Connells don’t cause a big upset in Dunleer on Sunday. DUNDALK GAELS: Paul Burke; David McComish, Jamie Faulkner 0-1, Eamonn Kenny; David Moloney, Peter McGinnity 0-1, Oisin Murray 1-0; Sean McCann 0-1, James Stewart; Derek Crilly 0-1f, Sean Murray 0-3, Shane Rice; Errol Boyle 1-2, Sean Fee, Jason Clarke 0-2. Subs: Kevin McArdle 0-1 for S Murray (43), Chris Sweeney for S Rice (52, Eanna McArdle for S Fee (56), Stephen Murphy for J Clarke (60), Conor Morgan for O Murray (60+).
O RAGHALLAIGH’S: Bryan Smith; Tomas Callan, James Moonan, Ciaran Brassil; James Morgan, Andrew Rogan, Liam Hanna; Alan Doyle 0-1, Robert Mulroy, Joe Rogan, Ruairi Moore 0-5 (4f), Chris Smith; Stephen Kermode, Barry Flanagan 0-2f, Eoin Moore 0-1. Subs: Olan Walshe for T Callan (56).
REFEREE: Stephen Johnson.