Donard-The Glen set up delicious date with Dunlavin

DONARD- THE GLEN 1-20 AN TOCHAR 1-06

DONARD-THE Glen put in a very strong rally in the third quarter to see off the challenge of An Tochar in this D’Arcy Sands Intermediate Football Championship played in ideal conditions on Saturday evening last.

This match along with Hollywood versus Carnew had to be played at the same time as things were fairly tight at the top off this group and final positions could come down to score difference to see who would go straight into the semi’s and who would go into the quarters.

Amazingly, all three teams finished level on eight points each and it came down to score difference where Hollywood topped this group on + 39, straight into semi-final , Donard in second spot with +29 and Carnew in the third spot with +22 both into the quarter-finals.

Kevin Kealy had the opening score for Donard in the third minute with a great point.

James Salley won the resultant kick-out and laid off to wing back Brendan Kennedy who soloed 35 metres and landed over an equalising point in the fifth minute.

Alan Daly kicked his first score of the match with a point in the next attack after great work by Sean Brannigan.

Donard had a lot of possession at this stage but their movement was very lateral back and across.

Ray Halloran and Bill Flynn both pointed for Donard. Brendan Kennedy added his second point of the game after good work by Joe Gaffney.

An Tochar could not increase their tally as the Donard backline were applying lots of pressure.

Donard should have had a goal in the next attack but a wonderful double save from Peter O’ Toole kept it out of the net but the third rebound fell to Alan Daly whose pile-driver flew over the crossbar.

Conor Short sent a high ball into the Donard area and James Salley was on hand to finish the ball to the net for Andy Jameson troops to put Roundwood back in the hunt to close out the opening quarter with the score reading Donard 0-06, An Tochar 1-02.

Ray Halloran landed a super point after great work by Brian Lennon.

An Tochar lifted the siege but registered four bad wides to let Donard off the hook.

A Darren O’ Neill point followed by a Harry Mangan pointed free pushed Darren Behan men further ahead. Bill Flynn also picked up a yellow card for Donard.

Gavin Kenny was breaking up a lot of good Donard work and Kenny cleared up the field to Liam Kenna who knocked over a beauty of a point for Roundwood.

Brendan Swords was sweeping up a lot of dirty ball around mid-field at this stage and Eamon Wolohan landed another point for An Tochar as we went into injury time.

Peter Byrne pointed a long range free to close out the first half with the score reading Donard 0-10 to 1-05 for An Tochar.

Alan Daly tagged on a point in the first attack for Donard and moments later added another as An Tochar could not live with his pace.

Peter Byrne pulled a free wide before Brendan Swords should have goaled but a great save by Mark Moore kept them at bay.

Full-foward Kevin Kealy punished this at the other end with a point from an acute angle.

Substitute Niall Curran was sure he had goaled for Donard after he flicked on a high ball towards the goal line but O’Toole seemingly stopped the whole ball from crossing the line. Ray Halloran added another point to close out the third quarter.

But the damage was done when Donard went into overdrive in the next 10 minutes in putting the game to bed.

John Hanbidge put a great ball into the danger zone where somehow Niall Curran back heeled the ball into the net.

A brace of pointed frees from Brian Lennon and a pointed free from Harry Mangan made it 1-16 to 1-05 with fifty minutes played.

Brendan Swords pointed An Tochar’s only score of the second half a minute later. Donard drove on to increase their score difference in this tight group.

Brian Lennon and Alan Daly, who was on fire, each pointed for the cause.

Sean Brannigan was winning a lot of ball and fed Kevin Kealy, who registered his fourth point of the match.

John Hanbidge burst through the heart of the Roundwood defence to score a point to finish out the game as the final whistle sounded.

It’s all set for the mouthwatering quarter-finals of Ballymanus versus Carnew and a mind-blowing derby between Donard and Dunlavin.

What a blockbuster this championship is turning in to. BRING IT ON!

Scorers - Donard-The Glen: Alan Daly 0-06, Kevin Kealy 0-4, Niall Curran 1-00, Brian Lennon 0-03 (3f), Harry Mangan 0-02 (2f), Ray Halloran 0-02, Bill Flynn 0-01, John Hanbidge 0-01, Darren O’ Neill 0-01.

An Tochar: James Salley 1-00, Brendan Kennedy 0-02, Eamon Wolohan 0-01, Peter Byrne 0-01, Liam Kenna 0-01, Brendan Swords 0-01.

Donard-The Glen: Mark Moore; Kevin Osborne, William Rooney, Conor Kelly; Sean Brannigan, Colin Osborne, Bill Flynn; John Hanbidge, Brian Lennon; Darren O’Neill, Harry Mangan, Dermot Daly; Alan Daly, Kevin Kealy, Ray Halloran. Subs: Niall Curran (37 min), Colm Toomey (53min).

An Tochar: Peter O’ Toole; David Molloy, Gavin Kenny, Noel Power; Stephen Connor, Eoghan Marah, Brendan Kennedy; Conor Short, James Salley; Joe Gaffney, Eamon Wolohan, Peter Byrne; Graham Sutton, Liam Kenna, Brendan Swords. Sub: Robert Cullen (50min).

Referee: Noel Kinsella (Kilbride)