Dreadnots secure their status
DREADNOTS guaranteed themselves another crack at the Louth Senior Championship after coming through their relegation playoff against O Raghallaighs at Darver on Friday night.
A game that was high on entertainment, particularly the first half, saw the Clogherhead men recover from a two-point interval deficit to claim a deserved victory to secure their Senior status and see the O Raghallaighs drop down to the Intermediate ranks.
It was a disappointing evening for the Drogheda men who gave themselves a great chance of avoiding the drop with three goals from Ben Rogan in a blistering four-minute spell midway through the first half. However, they were unable to build on that after the restart and could only manage to add three points to their tally in the second half.
It was the Dreadnots who had the first goal of the game after when minutes when Pepe Smith’s effort broke the deadlock to give his side a perfect start, and after Ciaran Finnegan and Carl Monaghan points helped them lead by 1-2 to 0-1 it was looking good for his side.
However, the O Raghallaighs burst into life and turned the game on its head in a devastating spell which began when Rogan found the net after 13 minutes. Almost immediately he added a second and when he raised the green flag on 17 minutes his side found themselves 3-1 to 1-3 in front.
The Clogher outfit steadied themselves at the back and cut the gap back to one with the help of a Smith point, but Joe Flanagan had the final say of the half when he pointed to put the Drogheda men 3-3 to 1-7 ahead.
The second half didn’t produce anything like the fireworks of the opening 30 minutes as the Dreadnots assumed control, while the O Raghallaighs were restricted to just three points.
Nathan Sutherland and Pat Lynch brought the teams level and the Seasiders earned further reward through Jay Hughes and Craig Sehvlin to move ahead entering the closing stages. With the O Raghallaighs unable to find the goals they needed, it was the Dreadnots who sealed victory when Smith sent a late penalty over the bar.
DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham; Derek Shevlin, Dermot Campbell, Aaron Scully; Anthony Williams, Padraig Rath, Barry Faulkner; Pepe Smith 1-5, Cian McEvoy; Pat Lynch 0-1, Peter Kirwan 0-2, Ciaran Finnegan 0-2; Anthony Lynch 0-1, Nathan Sutherland 0-1, Carl Monaghan 0-1. Subs: Jay Hughes 0-3 for A Lynch, Craig Shevlin 0-1 for N Sutherland, Anthony Lynch for P Rath.
RAGHALLAIGHS: Joe Flanagan 0-1; Liam Hanna, Sean Gibbons, Tomas Callan; Emmet King, Ciaran Brassil, Scott 0-1 ; Alan Doyle, Chris Smith; Danny Morgan, Ben Rogan 3-1, Ruairi Moore 0-1; Cillian Curran, Barry Flanagan 0-2, Eoin Moore. Subs: Matthew Moore for L Hanna, Olan Walshe for S Byrne.