O’Connell’s lethal trio sink O Raghallaighs

3-18 3-11

ROBERT Quigley, Paul McKeever and Niall Conlon caught the eye as O’Connells got their Senior Championship off to a winning start against O Raghallaighs at Pairc Ui Mhuiri on Saturday night.

The trio were in devastating form in front of the posts as between them accounted for all but three points of their side’s impressive 3-18 total in what was a very open game between two attacking sides.

The Drogheda side, who are flying high in Division 2, went into the game on the back of a victory over St Josephs and it looked as if they were on course to seal their place in the quarter-finals when goals from Ben Rogan and Eoin Moore saw them lead by 2-1 to 0-2 after just eight minutes.

The O’Connells kept themselves in touch when Quigley pointed before Jackie Agnew set up Paul McKeever to slap the ball to the net, but the O Raghallaighs maintained the advantage when Ruairi Moore and Daniel Morgan added points to make it 2-3 to 1-3 on 17 minutes.

However, they were unable to build on that lead and the O’Connells began to take over. Their fine running from the middle created the space in which Robert Quigley and McKeever thrived. Before the break both players added two points apiece while Niall Conlon and Dean Stanfield were also on target to see their side lead by 1-10 to 2-4 at half time.

The Drogheda men came out for the second half still very much in contention but within eight minutes their hopes had all but disappeared.

Straight from the restart, Conlon raced through the middle and set up McKeever, and in the 38th minute Conlon underlined his growing influence on the game by slicing through the defence before a neat finish put his side 3-11 to 2-5 in front.

The Bellingham side were playing with great confidence going forward and this was matched by some determined defending to ensure the O Raghallaighs couldn’t get through for the goals they needed to rescue the game.

As a consequence, the result was never in doubt in the final quarter with the O’Connells fine attacking play ensuring that they came out on top, as Conlon, Quigley Stanfield all added points. The O Raghallaighs did keep going until the end and were rewarded with a rather soft penalty which Ben Rogan despatched to the net but in the end it was little more than consolation for the Drogheda men who must now wait to see if they will make it to the last eight. O’CONNELLS: Stuart Reynolds; James Clerkin, Conor Byrne, Jason Carroll 0-1; Jackie Agnew, Salem Rifaie, Conor McGill; Conor Kiernan, Sean Cairns; Dean Stanfield 0-2, Paul McKeever 2-3, Stuart Osborne; Niall Conlon 1-6 (4f), Robert Quigley 0-6 (1f, ‘45’), Emmet Byrne. Subs: Sean Connolly for D Stanfield, John McLaughlin for S Osborne.

O RAGHALLAIGHS: Joe Flanagan; Len Murphy, Ciaran Brassil, Tomas Callan; Eoin Moore 1-0, Dean Byrne, James Moonan 0-1; Alan Doyle, Robert Mulroy; Daniel Morgan 0-1, Barry Flanagan 0-6 (6f), Olan Walshe 0-1; Chris Smith, Ben Rogan 2-1 (1-0 pen), Ruairi Moore 0-1. Subs: John Matthews for D Byrne, Jack Carr for R Mulroy, Sean Grennan for O Walshe.

REFEREE: Stephen Murphy.