JP is feeling the love as
NH MAIRTIN DREADNOTS 3-14 1-12
JP Rooney made a memorable return to action when he came off the bench to fire Naomh Mairtin into the semi-final of the Louth Senior Championship with two stunning goals.
After spending the last few weeks on honeymoon, the former Louth ace was also feeling the love of the Monasterboice supporters after playing a huge part in helping his side overcome the Dreadnots in the quarter-final replay at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon.
While Rooney’s contribution was immense, this was by no means a one man show as the Mairtins turned in a fine team performance as they mixed hard-work and desire with some good link up play and well-taken scores, in a game that was rather scrappy for the most part.
It proved too much for a Dreadnots side who couldn’t really match their
Stephen Faulkner; opponents in any of those sectors and they will be bitterly disappointed that they did themselves little justice over the hour with a below-par performance. As a result, the Clogherhead side saw their hopes of landing a first ever Joe Ward disappear for at least another 12 months.
The Mairtins laid the foundation for this victory with a very disciplined first half display that saw them trail by just one point at the interval despite playing into a very strong breeze blowing into the scoreboard end.
Having done a lot of the spadework in the opening 30 minutes, the Jocks then went for the jugular and a scoring burst of 1-5 without reply saw them turn a two point deficit into a 1-12 to 0-9 advantage inside six minutes, and
Rooney’s opening goal on 42 minutes perfectly summed up the contest overall.
Cian McEvoy gained possession for the Dreadnots in plenty of space under the stand, but he dithered on the ball and allowed the hungrier Wayne Campell to dispossess him before picking out Fra McCullough in front of goal. The corner forward slipped the perfect pass to Rooney who created just enough space to fire the ball into the roof of the net.
That put his side 1-8 to 0-9 and with their tails up and the vociforous crowd behind them, they pressed home their advantage with points from McCullough, Eoghan Callaghan, Conor Healy and Padraig McDonagh inside three minutes to surge six points clear.
From that stage there was no way back for the Dreadnots despite the fact that they briefly gave themselves hope with a Richard Kirwan goal after Peter Kirwan’s shot had been saved by Lynch, followed by a Califf free to cut the gap to 1-12 to 1-10. However, Rooney stepped forward with a superb point before reacting quickest when McCullough’s shot fell short and he rattled the top corner from a tight angle on 53 minutes to effectively settle the issue.
The Mairtins closed ranks for the