Westerns mount late blitz to overcome ‘Hill
WESTERNS produced a dominant final quarter display to get their championship campaign off to a winning start and all but secure a place in the quarter-finals with a nine-point victory over Dowdallshill.
With 15 minutes remaining this game at Stabannon on Saturday night was level at 0-10 to 1-7, but the Reaghstown men, who had been the better side throughout, finally found their range in front of the posts and made sure of victory.
Substitutes Ciaran Campbell and Conor Kerr produced the decisive scores as they found the net in the dying minutes to secure the win.
Dowdallshill battled all the way but aside from Aidan McCabe, who finished with eight points, they didn’t have the threat in front of the posts to make the Westerns pay for their wastefulness at the other end.
It was the Westerns who took the lead with just a minute on the clock and their dominance around the middle should have led to further scores but they were guilty of kicking a series of wides, and finished with a first half total of six.
Dowdallshill took full advantage when McCabe scored three without reply inside ten minutes to open up a lead.
The impressive Anthony Durnin showed his forwards the way with two well taken scores, but that lead was wiped out in the 20th minutes when Dowdallshill grabbed the first goal of the game. Veteran Gerry McShane got in behind the defence and although his shot crashed off the crossbar, luck was on his side as the ball rebounded off goalkeeper Benny Curtis and into the net, putting his side 1-3 to 0-4 ahead.
Terence Sweeney was also causing problems for the Hill defence and he kicked points either side of a Niall Moynagh effort to put the Westerns back in front. However, McCabe restored parity just before the break when he pointed a free from 20m.
McCabe added another just after the restart and although the Westerns dominated possession, they continued to waste chances by kicking three wides while Durnin saw a close range effort for goal come back off the post in the 34th minute.
The Reaghstown side did manage to get back level at 1-7 to 0-10 on 41 minutes thanks to a Moynagh free, but at that stage the game was very much in the balance.
However, Dowdallshill failed to get a supply of ball into their forwards and when they began to tire as the game moved into the last quarter, the Westerns finally took advantage.
Fittingly it was Durnin who edged his team ahead before scores from Moynagh (2), James Ward and Aidan McGarrell had their side 0-15 to 1-7 ahead after 54 minutes.
A pointed ‘45’ from Robert Arthur and a McCabe free were all Dowdallshill could manage in reply as Westerns finished with a flourish. Substitute Ciaran Campbell fisted in with his first touch on 58 minutes and almost immediately, Conor Kerr added a second. WESTERNS: Benny Curtis; Justin Nevin, Shane Matthews, James Ward 0-1; Conor Martin, Stephen Boylan, Gerry Curtis; Anthony Durnin 0-3, Dylan Ogle 0-1; Niall Moynagh 0-5, Trevor Baylon 0-1, Terence Sweeney 0-3; Aidan McGarrell 0-1, Ryan Duffy, Johnny Lynch. Subs: PJ Marron for J Nevin, Ciaran Campbell 1-0 for J Lynch, Conor Kerr 1-0 for R Duffy, Peter Shields for C Martin.
DOWDALLSHILL: Noel Mohan; Peter Begley, Vincent Roe, Damien Fanning; Jack McGailey, Paul Flynn, Emmet O’Brien; Eamonn Duffy, Justin Halley; Robert Arthur 0-1 (45), Gerry McShane 1-0, Paul Gill; Dermot Smith, Chris McMahon, Aidan McCabe 0-8 (6f). Subs: Graham Cairns for P Gill, David McCrave for D Fanning, Anthony Quinn for S Smith.
REFEREE: Paul Burke