Battling Blues book last eight spot
NEWTOWN Blues booked their place in the last eight of this year’s Anchor Tours Senior Football Championship as they outfought the Dreadnots in Drogheda on Friday evening.
Ronan Phillips side just seemed that little bit hungrier especially in the opening half with Colm Judge and Ciaran Downey causing the Clogherhead side all sorts of problems. The Dreadnots were dealt a blow just before the game threw in when talisman Pauric ‘Pepe’ Smith was declared unable to start due to a problem with his knee.
With defender Anthony Williams also missing this was always going to be a tough task for the Dreadnots against a side who are one of the contenders in what is shaping up to be a very open championship.
The Blues got off to a blistering start as Ciaran Downey, Ross Nally and Robert Carr put the Drogheda side 0-3 to 0-0 up after five minutes. A strangely subdued looking Dreadnots side took ten minutes to open their account as James Califf sent over a free to get his side up and running. However, that proved to be just a brief respite from the Blues onslaught with Ronan Phillips men scoring the next three points to make it 0-6 to 0-1 midway through the first half. Colm Judge was causing all kinds of trouble for a stretched Dreadnots defence as he picked out Ross Nally and Ciaran Downey with wonderful pinpoint passes time and time again.
The Dreadnots responded with an excellent James Califf point before Barry Faulkner made it a three-point game with a well worked score following good work from Cian McEvoy. The Dreadnots were finally beginning to look like a team who have been touted as one of the favourites for the championship and they almost drew level as Pat Lynch came so close to scoring the game’s opening goal. Lynch burst through a static Blues defence before unleashing a powerful shot which was well saved by Dean Martin. The ball came back out to Martin but his second shot was somehow cleared off the line by Fergal Donohue much to the relief of the Blues supporters.
Two more Ross Nally points stretched the Blues lead to five but the Dreadnots responded with a James Califf free and a long-range effort from Peter Kirwan to leave the scoreboard reading 0-8 to 0-5 at the break.
Califf’s third free of the day reduced the Blues lead to just two points early in the second half but three points in a row from Conor Moore, Conor Brannigan and the excellent Ciaran Downey left the Blues looking good with fifteen minutes remaining. Desperate times call for desperate measures and despite having an issue with his knee Pauraic Smith was called into action to save the day for the Clogherhead side.
Another Califf free left a goal between the sides with just a minute of normal time remaining in what was turning into an absorbing contest. With time running out David O’Brien launched an up and under into the Blues defence which was superbly fielded by James Califf. The midfielder turned on a sixpence before launching a ferocious shot which was somehow tipped on to the crossbar by Dean
Martin in the Blues goal.
The Blues countered straight away with a lighting quick move which ended up in the hands of Conor Brannigan who slotted the ball over the bar to seal a deserved quarter final spot for the Drogheda side. The Dreadnots will now face a do or die clash with Kilkerley Emmets to try and follow the Blues into the last eight.
NEWTOWN BLUES: Dean Martin, Niall Costello, Fergal Donohue, Ronan Levins, Kevin Carr, Cormac Reynolds, Paul Moore, Andrew McDonnell, John Kermode, Conor Moore 0-1, Colm Judge, Robert Carr 0-1, Ciaran Downey 0-4, Ross Nally 0-3, Conor Branigan 0-5. Subs: Hugh McGinn for Andy McDonnell.
DREADNOTS: Kenneth Shevlin, Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath, Derek Shevlin, Barry Faulkner 0-1, David O’Brien, Dermot Campbell, James Califf 0-7 (6f), Cian McEvoy, Pat Lynch 0-1, Darragh Shevlin, Liam Shevlin, Peter Kirwan 0-1, Richard Kirwan, Carl Monaghan. Subs: Paraic Smith for Carl Monaghan, Fergal McGuigan for Richard Kirwan.