Ruthless Blues cruise towards two-in-a-row
ANCHOR TOURS SFC SEMI-FINAL WITH a ‘ruthless efficiency’ that even the Monthy Python boys would be proud of, Newtown Blues cruised ever closer towards a Joe Ward two-in-a-row and a league and championship double with a virtuoso display on Sunday evening.
The Spanish Inquisition must seem like a holiday camp compared to 60 minutes of combat with the county champs at the moment, and a beleaguered Dreadnots were their latest victims in an ominous show of strength at the Gaelic Grounds.
For a team on the cusp of a second SFC title on the bounce, the scorelines haven’t been all that spectacular and the Blues have been remarkably goal-shy, racking up just three in their four games to date.
But still no-one has been able to live with the champions.
Dreadnots were widely tipped to provide them with their first real test of the campaign on Sunday evening, but it took somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes to lay that theory bare.
By that stage the Drogheda outfit were 0-9 to 0-1 up and they were full value for it.
By half-time it was 0-11 to 0-2 and while they only managed to add a further three points to their tally after the break, they were in total control throughout.
Like most teams that encounter the Blues in this kind of form, Dreadnots were at their limit just trying to stay in touch and the needle was in the red in the opening minutes as frees from Ciaran Downey and Colm Judge were followed by two superb Ross Nally points.
Paraic Smith eventually got Dreadnots off the mark and Dean Martin had to be alert to deny Peter Kirwan moments later, but another burst of scoring by the Blues saw them stretch their lead to eight.
Andy McDonnell and Conor Branigan got in on the act during that spell and while James Califf replied at the other end to halt a 17-minute scoreless streak for Dreadnots, Downey popped up with a late brace, his first points from open play, to make it 0-11 to 0-2 at the break.
Deep down even the Dreadnots faithful knew that was game over and they were probably relieved that their opponents took their foot off the gas a bit in the second period.
They had a let-off when Nally fired across the face of goal and wide early on, but overall the scoring rate slowed and the by the 50th minute the Blues were still sitting pretty on a nine-point lead, 0-13 to 0-4.
Dreadnots made sure they ‘won the second half’ with a couple of late points from Richard Kirwan and Anthony Williams with a sideline kick, but the former added another layer of misery to a dreadful evening when he was sent off for striking Louth defender Fergal Donohoe.
It was a disappointing end to the campaign for Dreadnots, but when 2018 is assessed, be it now or in five years time, a semi-final defeat to this Blues team will be nothing to be ashamed about.
The quest for a first two-in-a-row since 2001 is no doubt driving the boys in blue on and they’ll be hot favourites to spoil the Naomh Mairtin party in three week time now too.
NEWTOWN BLUES: Dean Martin; Fergal Donohoe, Cormac Reynolds, Paul Moore; Kevin Carr, Emmet Carolan, John Connolly; Stephen Moonan, John Kermode; Conor Branigan 0-1, Andy McDonnell 0-2, Ciaran Downey 0-5 (3f); Conor Moore, Ross Nally 0-3, Colm Judge 0-2f. Subs: Robbie Carr 0-1 for C Moore (44), Alan Connor for S Moonan (50), Hugh McGinn for C Downey (54), Jamie Kelly for R Nally (57), Ian Connor for K Carr (59),
DREADNOTS: Chris Mulroy; Derek Shevlin, Dermot Campbell, Aaron Scullion; David O’Brien, Padraig Rath, Anthony Williams 0-1 s/l; Cian McEvoy, James Califf 0-2 (1f); Pat Lynch 0-1, Paraic Smith 0-2, Cathal Lynch; Peter Kirwan, Liam Shevlin, Carl Monaghan. Subs: Darragh Shevlin for C Lynch (ht), Nathan Sutherland for C Monaghan (ht), Barry Faulkner for D O’Brien (40), Richrad Kirwan 0-1 for C McEvoy (47),
REFEREE: David J McArdle. Pictures: Paul Connor