Dreadnots win by the slenderest of margins over a dogged Cooley Kickhams

Anchor Tours Senior Football Knockout

DREADNOTS 0-09

COOLEY KICKHAMS 0-08

The first team into the Louth Senior championship semi final draw was Dreadnots by the slenderest of margins over a dogged Cooley Kickhams under the lights of Clan Na Gael park on Friday night.

The two teams mirrored each other's set up with both centre halfs Dermot Campbell and Fearghal Malone able to float and play their own games.

As a result, you got a stalemate as both teams were not willing to give an inch but it was that extra bit of Clogherhead composure up front and down the flanks midway through the second half that swayed the quarter final arm wrestle in their favour.

Anthony Williams stood up with a mark and Conor Shevlin gave Dreadnots the vital two point cushion that they would use to see out the game, despite Gerry Malone’s heroic second half efforts.

Malone bagged a brace from distance but the one point margin was enough for Wayne McKeever’s side who were off-colour but advanced nonetheless.

Three weeks of a gap from topping the group allowed them to be fresh in the key moments but rustiness at various stages as they had to rely on Dylan Cassidy to pull off a late save to deny Cian Connor.

The chance was slim for Connor but Cassidy quickly smothered any doubt. Either side of that goal chance, Cooley will rue their handling and ability to work a score.

Centre back Fearghal Malone tried to repeat the trick of last day out and was entitled to have a pop, but his effort went wayward along with Kickhams chances of Joe Ward success. 

With the threat of extra time looming the ball ping ponged deep into injury time with the two teams coughing up possession at a nervous rate.

Veteran Brian White missed a free and substitute Paul Brennan let the ball slip through his grasp in the tie’s final play. The Clogherhead men would do enough to reach their first semi final in four years.

Despite the win, Dreadnots have a lot of work to do if they are to reach the final. However, the determined bunch will take heart that they shaded the tussle without firing on all cylinders.

Having trailed 0-5 to 0-2 in the first half the sea-siders gritted it out with three placed kicks to go in level 0-5 a piece at the interval. That broke Cooley’s spirit.

Pepe Smith had a first half to forget but still got on the scoresheet, Jay Hughes was their one bright spark finishing with four points but his hamstring injury tempered his influence down the stretch as James Califf cancelled out all Enda O’Neill’s four first half strikes.

Once Peter Kirwan gave the Dreadnots the lead for the first time in the game ten minutes into the second half, they turned the screw. 

Hughes used the last of troubled hamstring to set them up for the barricade they would successfully fend off to reach the final four.

DREADNOTS: Dylan Cassidy; Aaron Scullion, Barry Faulkner, Conor Faulkner; Ciaran Finnegan, Dermot Campbell, Conor Clarke; Cian McEvoy, Anthony Williams 0-1 (1m), Jay Hughes 0-4 (2f), Pepe Smith 0-1(1f), Darragh Shevlin; Peter Kirwan 0-1, James Califf 0-1 (1’45) , Owen Murphy. SUBS: Conor Shevlin 0-1 for Murphy (35), Carl Monaghan for Hughes (57), Padraig Rath for Scullion (53), Cathal Lynch for C Faulkner (63).

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Ronan McGrath, Dean McGeehan, Patrick Hanlon; Eoin McDaid, Fearghal Malone, Gerry Malone 0-2; Peter Thornton, Darren Marks; Michael Carron, Enda O’Neill 0-4 (1m), James O’Reilly; Richard Brennan; Michael Rafferty, Cian Connor 0-2 (2f). SUBS: Paul Brennan for Hanlon (40), Brian White for O’Reilly (46), Ian Arnold for Marks (57), Callum O’hanlon for Carron (60).

REFEREE: David Fedigan (Hunterstown Rovers)