St Bride’s hang on
NEWTOWN Blues increased their lead at the top of the table as their eighth victory of the campaign sealed an O’Donnell Cup semi-final spot with three games to spare.
A scrappy first 20 minutes saw the Dreadnots open up a 0-3 to 0-1 lead with two pointed frees from Paraic Smith and a well-executed ‘45’ from Peter Kirwan.
Liam Shevlin and Kirwan added points to put the Dreadnots 0-5 to 0-3 up at the break and it took a fine save by Dean Martin from a Smith penalty to keep the Blues in touch.
The game turned in the Blues favour when David O’Brien picked up his second yellow card five minutes into the second half, leading to the mandatory red and reducing Dreadnots to 14 men.
The home side took full advantage of their numerical advantage as they scored 2-5 without reply with the goals coming from county men Ciaran Downey and Ross Nally.
James Califf fisted in a goal to offer the Clogherhead men a sliver of hope but soon after that was cancelled out by another three-pointer from the in-formRoss Nally.
Although Liam Shevlin claimed a consolation goal for the Dreadnots on the stroke of full-time there was no denying the Blues their victory, who have full points from eight outings. NEWTOWN BLUES: Dean Martin; Paul Kellegher, Aidan O’Brien, Paul Moore; Alan Connolly 0-2, John Connolly, Cormac Reynolds 0-1; John Kermode 0-1, Andy McDonnell; Emmet Carolan, Jamie Kelly, Ciaran Downey 1-3; Colm Judge 0-2, Ross Nally 2-3, Conor Moore. Subs: Ronan Levins 0-1 for P Kellegher, Fergal O’Donaghue for P Moore, Brian Kermode for J Kermode, Hugh McGinn for A McDonnell, Conor Branigan for J Kelly, Thomas Costello for C Judge.
DREADNOTS: Chris Mulroy; Derek Shevlin, Dermot Campbell, Barry Faulkner; Aaron Scully, Padraig Rath, David O’Brien; Cian McEvoy, Pat Lynch; Pepe Smith 0-3, Liam Shevlin 1-1, Cathal Lynch; Carl Monaghan, Peter Kirwan 0-2, Anthony Williams. Subs: James Califf 1-0, Conor Shevlin, Ronan Califf, Barry Mulroy, Brian Gargan. COOLEY Kickhams turned in their best performance of the season as they recorded a second victory to move off the foot of the table.
For their part, it was a disappointing evening for the Clans as the home side suffered a fourth successive defeat that sees them sucked into a real dogfight at the wrong end of the table.
In what developed into an entertaining first half, the Kickhams saw Fearghal Malone and Brian White in fine form in front of the posts, while Robbie Curran and JJ Quigley ensured the Clans kept in touch.
However, all of Cooley’s good early seemed in vain when the home side netted the opening goal of the game at the midway point through Mark Newell , ensuring they were leading by 1-8 to 0-8 at half time.
Cooley continued to pick off their points and although the Clans scoring rate slowed down somewhat, they did stay very much in the game following a second goal from Mark McGeown.
However, the visitors were not to be denied as they took their tally to an impressive 21 points to claim a vital victory in their battle for survival.
With Cooley now one of three teams on five points at the bottom of the table, the Clans, who sit on seven points need a win to stop the rot and stay clear of the pack.
COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Paddy Hanlon, Dean McGreehan, James O’Reilly 0-2; Eoin McDaid, Conor McGuinness, Gerry Malone; Richard Brennan 0-1, Fearghal Malone 0-7; Emmet Rogan 0-2, Aoghain McGuinness, Michael Rafferty 0-2; Darren Marks, Brian White 0-6, Ciaran Sheelan 0-1. Subs: Alan Page, Keith White.
CLAN NA GAEL: Stephen Smith; Ian Carr, Craig Long, Tiarnan Reilly; Kevin Carroll, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Michael McDonnell; Leo Martin 0-1, Robbie Curran 0-5; Mark Newell 1-2, Mark McGeown 1-0, Conor Noonan 0-1; Billy Smith 0-1, JJ Quigley 0-2, Paul Gore. Sub Stephen Coleman. ST. BRIDES registered their third win in the league with this hardearned victory in Pairc an Chuinnigh on Friday evening.
However, the scoreboard was not a true reflection of the game and may be somewhat flattering to the visitors.
St Brides started the better and were six points clear on 16 minutes with the highlight being a Cathal McKenna goal.
Three unanswered points by Paddy Keenan reduced the deficit to two but a McKenna free and a Conaill Devin ‘45 left the home side well in control at half time with a 1-7 to 0-5 lead.
It didn’t get better for the visitors in the second half as ‘The Reds’ increased their lead with two more early points.
The Lordship men lost Paddy Keenan to injury and had Eoghan Lafferty dismissed for a second yellow card, which gave them a mountain to climb.
However, they battled on and Picture: Ken Finegan came back into the game as St. Brides took their foot off the pedal and Pats reduced the deficit to four points on 47 minutes.
St. Brides tagged on two more singles to lead by six with five minutes to go.
However, the visitors kicked two late points to leave the game on a knife edge with normal time up.
There was still time for St. Patricks to convert a controversial penalty three minutes into added time but St. Brides prevailed by the narrowest of margins.
ST BRIDES: Conaill Devin (0-4); Andrew Smyth (0-1), Ronan Bailey; Padraig Mackin; Mark Hoey, Cillian Kirk, Michael Keane; Patrick Reilly (0-1), Conor Deane; Sean Marry (0-1), Kevin Hearty (0-3), James Costelloe; Ross Kehoe, Cathal Mc Kenna (1-2), Aaron Hoey. Subs: Johnny Culleton for R Kehoe, David Kettle for A Hoey.
ST PATRICKS: Sean Connor; Ross Murphy, Darren O’Hanlon, Aaron Rogers; Conor Grogan, Dessie Finnegan, Eoghan Lafferty; Paddy Keenan (0-4), Thomas McCann (0-1); Ray Finnegan (0-1), Daniel O Connor (1-1), Leonard Gray; Sean McGeough, Cathal Grogan, Aidan McCann. Subs: Daragh Lafferty (0-2) for S McGeough, Gavin Gregory (0-1) for R Murphy, Rory Duffy (0-1) for P Keenan, Patrick Kirk for L Gray.