Early Kelly strike sets Tone for Seans
SEAN McDermotts revived their hopes of reaching the Junior Championship quarter-finals when they enjoyed a comfortable victory over Wolfe Tones at Stabannon on Thursday evening.
Following their surprise defeat to John Mitchels the previous week, the McDermotts got back on track and despite the best efforts of a gallant Wolfe Tones they came out with a straightforward and deserved victory.
In the end the Mountrush side were just that bit sharper, both physically and mentally, than their opponents, while they were more assured in possession and had a greater cutting edge in attack.
Led by the excellent Patrick Fanning, the Tones played some nice football throughout the game and refused to throw in the towel, however, they were unable to match the strength of the Seans and too often lost possession cheaply in the tackle.
While they did enjoy a good share of possession, they didn’t have the scoring power in attack and will rue a series of missed chances over the hour.
The game took a while to get going and it wasn’t until the eighth minute that the Seans snatched the lead through a fine Tony Kelly effort with the outside of his book, while Emmet Kelly added a second straight after the kick-out.
Kelly added his second on 11 minutes before Niall Smith opened the Tones account with a well-taken score from distance soon after.
Any confidence his side might have gained from that score was soon wiped out as just before the quarter hour as Kevin McGahon set up Kelly for the opening goal of the game.
As the Tones missed chances to keep in touch the Seans stretched the lead through Danny Reilly before Darren Weldon cut in to add a second for the Tones.
Just before the break David O’Neill fired over to make it 1-5 to 0-2 for the McDermotts.
The Drogheda side threatened a comeback at the start of the second half when points from Gideon Lugoye and Barry Kelly cut the gap to four points.
The Tones probably needed a goal at that stage to give themselves any real hope, but in the face of some strong defending from the Seans, the chances of raising the green flag were slim.
Two quick Lorcan Myles points followed by a Peter Osbourne score had the Seans back in command by the end of the third quarter before the game was put beyond any doubt when sub Kevin Carroll fisted a second goal from an Emmet Duffy centre to make it 2-8 to 0-4.
The Tones kept battling to the end and were rewarded with points from Gideon Lugoye and Jordan Duffy, but in the end the McDermotts ran out comfortable winners by 11 points.
The performance will give the Mountrush side a much needed confidence boost ahead of their final Group D game which will see them take on the Westerns knowing that victory is needed to keep alive their hopes of making it through to the quarter-finals.
SEAN MCDERMOTTS: Mark McEneaney; Danny Reilly 0-1, Ciaran McMahon, Kevin McGahon; Danny Cummins, Lee Ross, Sean McMahon 0-1; Peter Osbourne 0-1, Patrick Osbourne; David O’Neill 0-1, Emmet Duffy 0-2, Ian Corbally; Lorcan Myles 0-2, Tony Kelly 1-3, Kevin McMahon. Subs: Kevin Carroll 1-0 for I Corbally, BJ Matthews for D O’Neill, David Balfe for Kevin McGahon, Brendan McGahon for K McMahon
WOLFE TONES: Chris Eustace; Adam Gartland, Patrick Fanning, Alan Fanning; Sam Kelly, Graham Fanning, Eoghan O’Shea; Niall Smith 0-1, Barry Kelly 0-1; Kevin Collier, Marc Lugoye, Jamie McCormack; Gideon Lugoye 0-2, Darren Weldon 0-1, Jordan Duffy 0-1. Subs: Andy Faulkner for J McCormack, Chris Cudden for G Fanning, Gavin Kierans for D Weldon.
REFEREE: Kevin Brady.