Blessington do the business
at Blessington
Blessington were spraying around the ball to their forward line all over the big pitch.
Mikey O’Connor pointed a free after an advantage play was called back by the Kilbride official.
Dunlavin hit two bad wides before they settled into the game. Lively corner-forward Cian O’Sullivan pointed after good build up play by Garry Allen for the visitors.
Midfielder David Boothman kicked a massive point for the home side after good work by Stephen Bohan.
Full-back Alan O’Sullivan was breaking down a lot of the Blues attacks and was covering a lot of ground for his Dunlavin side.
Mikey O’Connor hit a stunning long-range point with 25 minutes on the clock.
Moments later a massive turning point in the game happened when Dunlavin lost Eoin Murtagh to a red card and Shane Carthy went of injured to be replaced by James Walshe.
This was a huge blow to the visitors chances at this stage of the game.
Paddy O’Connor added a point but Paul Murtagh landed a brace of points deep into added time of the first half for the visitors.
The half time whistle sounded with the scoreboard reading 1-07 to 0-05 in favour of the Blues.
Dunlavin made a few positional changes for the restart, bringing Thomas Davis out to the midfield sector and bringing on Marty Caplis.
It was Barry Finan who got the first score of the second half with a point for the home side.
Paul Murtagh and Gary Allen were putting in a big shift for Dunlavin and were rewarded with a point from a Cian O’Sullivan free.
Dara Ryan dropped an effort short into the hands of Tom McGuirk who cleared.
The Kilbride referee had to dish out a few yellow cards to each team as the battle heated up.
Paddy O’Connor added another point in the 40th minute.
Blessington dominated possession for the next period but let Dunlavin off the hook as they kept shooting for goals instead of keeping the scoreboard ticking with points which looked an easier option.
A goal did eventually come from the right boot of Micheal Nugent after a great pass from Jack Gilligan.
Dara Ryan wisely fisted a point for the Blues as they tried to kill the game off.
One must credit this Dunlavin side for putting in a solid determined finish to the game aided on by a very vocal Thomas Harney on the sideline for the last quarter.
Gary Allen won possession and sliced through the Blues defence and fed Thomas Davis with a peach of a pass and Davis found Cian O’Sullivan who buried the ball into the top right hand corner of the net with 47 minutes gone.
Sub James Walsh added a point as Dunlavin threw everything at Blessington.
Conor Ryan settled the home side down with a great point. Yet again, Blessington wasted two good point chances, shooting for goals.
Micheal Nugent pointed before Daniel Dawson pointed for the visitors. Connor Kenny hit Blessington’s last score with a point in the 56th minute.
Thomas Davis landed a brace of points from frees with normal time fast running out and then Gary Allen hit an inspirational point in the 62nd minute, however being a man light cost Dunlavin dearly at the end, with the final whistle sounding after Thomas Davis pointed a long-range free.
Scorers - Blessington: Patrick O’Connor 0-04, Micheal Nugent 1-02, Jordan Nolan 1-00, Micheal O’Connor 0-03, Conor Kenny 0-02, Barry Finan 0-01, David Boothman 0-01, Dara Ryan 0-01.
Dunlavin: Cian O’Sullivan 1-02, Thomas Davis 0-04, Paul Murtagh 0-02, James Walshe 0-01, Dan Dawson 0-1, Gary Allen 0-01.
Blessington: Stephen Kitt; Barry Murphy, Micheal McLoughlin, Stephen Bohan; Kevin Hanlon, Jack Gilligan, Barry Finan; David Boothman, Dara Ryan; Jordan Nolan, Patrick O’Connor, Conor Kenny; Conor Ryan, Michael Nugent, Micheal O’Connor. Subs: Conor Devlin, Andy Boland.
Dunlavin: Tom McGuirk; Padraig Carmody, Alan O’Sullivan, Louis Caplis; Daryl Huntley, Daniel Dawson, James Sinnott; Paul Murtagh, Fionn Deegan; Eoin Murtagh, Garry Allen, Shane Carthy; Cian O’Sullivan, Thomas Davis, Brian Nolan. Subs: James Walshe, Marty Caplis, Sean Phelan, Harry Coleborn, MJ Moran, Mark O’Sullivan Venue: Blessington. Referee: Noel Kinsella (Kilbride).