Duleek’s storming win as lightning strikes twice

DULEEK-BELLEWSTOWN repeated their championship win over Castletown in this rearranged league match at the north Meath venue on Sunday.

The victory leaves the combined outfit with three wins from their six outings, while struggling Castletown have just one one win so far this season.

For the eventual winners this was the proverbial game of two halves as they struggled to gain any type of rhythm or continuity in the opening 30 minutes. Despite having the upper hand in most of the exchanges they went in at halftime a point in arrears, 0-3 to 0-4.

They finally hit all the correct notes in the second half, recording an impressive 2-12, with all bar three points of that tally coming from play.

After a couple of fruitless attacks Steven Nolan eventually opened the scoring with a pointed free on five minutes and John McDonnell then doubled the advantage from play. Kevin Ross had the hosts off the mark on 16 minutes and Stephen Duffy added their second point to level matters on 22 minutes.

A feature of that opening half was the wayward shooting of both sets of forwards and that contributed in no small way to the low scoring. Ross and Darren Finney pointed frees to leave the home side in front at half-time, while Duleek-Bellewstown’s other point of the half came from Steven Nolan.

Duleek-Bellewstown might have been ahead at the break but for the honesty and integrity of their manager Anthony Malone. Gary Reilly secured possession on the edge of the large square and drove goalwards and his powerful shot for goal struck the side netting but ended in the net.

The umpire raised the green

Duleek-B’stn 2-15 Castletown 1-6

flag and while Castletown were adamant that the ball was wide it was only after the intervention of Malone that he convinced the referee.

Ross, from another free, doubled Castletown’s advantage on the restart before the visitors responded in emphatic fashion. John McDonnell replied from play on 34 minutes and Nolan equalised from a free before Duleek-Bellewstown forged into the lead with further points from Shane Crosby and McDonnell (two).

Castletown replied immediately, and from a quickly taken free in the middle of the field they attacked down the right and Declan Cribbin goaled to level proceedings.

The next score was going to be crucial and it was John Flood who popped up with the lead point for his side.

At that stage Duleek-Bellewstown were getting a grip on proceedings, with Eanna Byrne and Micheál Dowling dominating the midfield exchanges, while the forwards began to make much better use of possession.

Successive points from Flood, Nolan (free), McDonnell and Shane Townley left the visitors in the driving seat and the lead eventually extended to six with five minutes remaining.

Ross replied at the other end from another free before Duleek-Bellewstown closed out the game in impressive style with two goals in the space of a minute.

First Jamie Crosby, who had come as a sub for Gary Reilly, picked up a pass from Steven Nolan and slid the ball to the net. Then, from the resultant kick out, the breaking ball was won along the sideline and played in to Steven Nolan who firmly dispatched it to the roof of the net.

Brian Moore completed the scoring with a fine long-range effort in added time. DULEEK-BELLEWSTOWN: Anthony Dowling; Des Teeling, David Moore, Kevin McCann; Shane Crosby 0-1 Robin Clarke, Jamie Brannigan, Eanna Byrne, Micheál Dowling; Shane Townley 0-1, John Flood 0-2, Brian Moore 0-1; John McDonnell 0-5, Steven Nolan 1-5 Gary Reilly, Subs: James Murphy for Brannigan, Jamie Crosby 1-0 for Reilly, Paul Callaghan for Nolan.

CASTLETOWN: Jonathan Ginnity; William Bellew, Gerard Farrelly, Killian Markey; Stephen Duffy 0-1, Evan Hoey, Jamie McMahon; Damien Ginnity, Robbie Hoey; Mark Kelly, Wayne Donegan, Darren Finney 0-1f; Kevin Ross 1-4 (0-3f), Declan Cribbin 1-0, Paul Bellew. Subs: Barry Smith for Bellew, Christopher Deans for Donegan, Jason Ross for McMahon.

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