Dreadnots suffer late despair as Pats battle to first win

ST PATRICKS DREADNOTS 0-17 2-9

LATE points from Ray Finnegan and Conor Grogan helped St Patricks record their first win of the season at home to Dreadnots on Saturday night.

The Lordship side had been in the habit of letting leads slip in recent times and it looked as if that pattern would repeat itself when a late goal from James Califf saw the Dreadnots recover from five points down to level the game.

However, on this occasion the Pats were able to respond to the setback and secured the victory with points in the dying moments.

The Dreadnots made a bright start to the game as a goal from Peter Kirwan gave them an early four-point advantage. However, the Pats got into their stride and with points from Danny O’Connor, Paddy Keenan and Cathal Grogan they were level at 0-4 to 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.

The remainder of the half was evenly contested as the next eight points were shared with the teams going in level at 0-8 to 1-5.

The Pats then upped the pace at the start of the second half and with Sean McGeough, Jason Woods and Evan White adding to scores from Keenan and O’Connor, the hosts found themselves in a strong position when leading by 0-15 to 1-7 with eight minutes to play.

The Dreadnots refused to give up and pulled back two points before Califf’s goal levelled the game entering the final minute.

However, the Pats managed to summon up a response as Finnegan and Grogan struck late to secure the win.

ST PATRICKS: Rory Duffy; Leonard Gray, Dessie Finnegan, Jason Woods 0-1; Conor Grogan 0-1, Darren O’Hanlon 0-1, Daniel Rice; Paddy Keenan 0-3, Thomas McCann; Evan White 0-1, Danny O’Connor 0-5, Aidan McCann; Sean McGeough 0-2, Cathal Grogan 0-2, Ray Finnegan 0-1. Subs: Ross Murphy for D Rice, Tadhg O’Connor for E White.

DREADNOTS: Chris Mulroy; Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath, Aaron Scully; Barry Faulkner, David O’Brien, Liam Shevlin 0-1; James Califf 1-4, Anthony Williams 0-1; Pat Lynch 0-1, Pauric Smith 0-2, Cian McEvoy; Karl Monaghan, Darragh Shevlin, Peter Kirwan 1-0.