Louth GAA club | SFC round-up

Group Two

Dreadnots 1-14 St Mochtas 0-15

Dreadnots caused the surprise of the opening weekend of the Louth Senior Football Championship when they hit back to defeat St Mochtas in an entertaining Group Two clash at Darver on Sunday evening.

READ NEXT: Kilduff slams ‘farcical rules’ as Dundalk hit by international call-ups

The Cardinal O’Donnell Cup champions looked to be on course for victory when they led by five points early in the second half.

However, a spirited Dreadnots side refused to give in and produced an impressive comeback capped by an excellent Jay Hughes goal to get their campaign off to a winning start.

St Mochtas went into the game as favourites, but the Dreadnots proved from early on that they were up for the battle, with Sam Reilly registering the first score for his side.

Dara Quinn landed a two-pointer for the Mochtas, but with Donnacha Skinnader and Craig Shevlin scoring either side of a Craig Lennon points, the teams were locked at three points apiece just after the end of the first quarter.

Paraic Smith and Sean Flynn then traded scores before Ciaran Finnegan edged the Dreadnots back in front.

However, the Louth Village side took charge for the remainder of the half as Lennon, Gerry Garland and Quinn were on target to send their team in with a 0-8 to 0-5 advantage.

When Quinn and Ciaran Cunningham pointed for the Mochtas at the start of the second half, it looked as if their side was on course for a comfortable win.

However, Callum Shevlin and Ben Goss Kieran pulled points back before a Smith two-pointer saw the gap down to just 0-11 to 0-9.

The Clogher men continued to drive forward, and after a Conor Clarke point, Craig Shevlin popped up with a two-pointer to put his team back in front.

It got even better for the Dreadnots as Jay Hughes fired in the only goal of the game on 50 minutes to open up a 1-12 to 0-11 lead.

The Louth Village side threw everything into attack in the closing stages, and when Dara Quinn landed a two-pointer in the final minute, the gap was back down to two points.

However, the Mochtas were unable to rescue the game as the Dreadnots defended superbly to hold out until the final whistle.

Dreadnots: Dylan Cassidy; Padraig Rath, Dermot Campbell, Aaron Scullion; Callum Skinnader, Anthony Williams, Donnacha Skinnader 0-1; Leon Fox, Ciaran Cunningham 0-1; Conor Clarke 0-2, Sam Reilly 0-1, Ciaran Finnegan; Craig Shevlin 0-4, Paraic Smith 0-3, Callum Shevlin 0-1.

Subs: Darragh Shevlin for C Skinnader, Jay Hughes 1-0 for Callum Shevlin, Donnacha Hodgins for S Reilly, Barry Faulkner for Craig Shevlin.

St Mochtas: Daire O’Shea; Daniel Craven, Ben Goss Kieran 0-1, Liam Lawlor; Dara Quinn 0-6 (2 x 2p), Andrew English, Andrew Lennon; Sean Flynn 0-3, Darren McMahon; Craig Lennon 0-2, Gerry Garland 0-2, Shane Lennon; Cormac Smyth, Dylan Farrell, Jamie Farrell 0-1.

Subs: Liam O’Flaherty for C Smyth, Phily Englishby for J Farrell, Owen Lennon for L Lawlor, Conor Garland for D Craven.

Group Three

St Fechins 0-14 Geraldines 2-6

St Fechins picked up what could prove to be a crucial win in Group 1 of the Senior Championship when they secured victory over Geraldines at The Grove on Sunday afternoon.

With both sides now having to face reigning champions, St Mary's, the Termonfeckin side will be fancying their chances of making it to the knockout stages and securing their senior status for another year.

The conditions on the day made it difficult for both sides and contributed to this being a cagey affair throughout, but in the end, the Fechins did enough to come out on top.

The winners were quick out of the blocks with early points from Ronan Holcroft and Aaron McGlew before Brian Cafferty got the Gers off the mark.

Holcroft added his second point before Dan Corcoran was denied a goal by a brilliant Niall McDonnell save, with Michael Rogers landing the resultant ‘45’.

As the action ebbed and flowed, the next six points were evenly shared to see the game delicately poised with St Fechins leading by 0-6 to 0-5 on 20 minutes.

However, the closing stages of the half were dominated by the Termonfeckin side, who added points from Holcroft, John O’Connell and Aaron McGlew to lead by 0-9 to 0-5 at the break.

The South Louth side weren’t hanging around after the restart as a Joe Corrigan two-pointer was followed by an Aaron McGlew score to put their side seven clear and very much in the driving seat.

However, the Gers got themselves right back in it when a Michael Rogers goal was followed by another three-pointer from David O’Connell to cut the gap to a single point after 35 minutes.

As the conditions deteriorated, it became increasingly difficult for both sides, and it was no surprise that the scoring rate dropped.

Joe Corrigan edged the Fechins ahead by two points, and it was a full 13 minutes before Cafferty pointed on 53 minutes to cut the gap to the minimum.

In a tense finale, it was Aaron McGlew who got the final point of the game to clinch victory, with the Gers unable to provide the finishing touch to a number of late chances.

St. Fechins: Niall McDonnell; Robert McCarthy, Niall McCabe, Ciaran McGinty; Aaron McGlew 0-4, Shane Reilly, Danny Burnell; Dan Reilly, Colm Hackett; John O’Connell 0-1, Paul Mathews, Colm O’Neill; Ryan Walsh, Joe Corrigan 0-6 (2 x 2p), Ronan Holcroft 0-3.

Subs: Lee Grifferty for D Reilly, Mark Holohan for A McGlew.

Geraldines: Cian O’Donoghue; John McCrohan, Dara O'Gradaigh, Jack McGailey; Neil Gartlan 0-1, Gareth Neacy, Dan Corcoran; Michael Rogers 1-1, Matt Corcoran; Ben Gartlan, Jim McEneaney 0-1, David O’Connell 1-0; Jack Traynor, Brian Cafferty 0-3, Danny Nordone.

Subs: James Craven for N Gartlan, Shane O’Hanlon for B Gartlan, Beanon Corrigan for D O Gradaigh.