Dundalk seal semi-final spot in the McGee Cup

Dundalk 3rds travelled to Ardee on Friday night looking to take the final semi-final spot in the McGee Cup.

Dundalk attacked well early, a skip pass out to Barry Callan saw him race pass the Ardee winger to score his first ever try.

Ardee responded well, executing a perfect drop goal before catching Dundalk napping from a lineout to get their first try of the match and followed it up with a second, more dubious, one while Dundalk did get one back before half time through a pick and go from flanker Perez saw him brush off three Ardee players to score a try and leave it 17-10 at the break.

Roe slotted over an immediate penalty at the start of the second half, brought on by indiscipline, but Ardee found another gap from the restart to get over the line again.

But Dundalk dug deep and marched down the pitch with Will Luakai making a lot of ground while Roe’s penalties kept pinning Ardee back.

A resulting lineout saw Dundalk’s driving maul once again dominate, as it was pulled down Perez picked up the ball and bounced off three Ardee defenders to score in the corner, Gerry Lawless converted, bringing the score to 20-22 to Ardee!

Dundalk kept attacking with some great running and passing by both forwards and backs. Ardee’s indiscipline once again gave away a penalty, this time in front of the posts which Lawless slotted over the bar and with two minutes remaining Dundalk led 23-22 and they added a last try in the final moments to cap a determined display and in doing so, gained their top four spot and a McGee Cup semi-final place.