Louth GAA club | Division One League round-up
Dreadnots end the Joe's seven-match unbeaten league run
Dundalk Gaels 1-17 Hunterstown Rovers 1-16
Dundalk Gaels chalked up another impressive Louth GAA John O’Neill Sand and Gravel Division One League victory as they held off a late rally away at Hunterstown Rovers on Thursday night.
The visitors made a bright start with a Gerard McSorley two-pointer followed by a Cain Bromley effort, before Hunterstown got off the mark with two points.
Gaels, and in particular Tom O’Connell, then enjoyed a purple patch that saw them take control of the game.
O’Connell landed two two-pointers either side of a Jack Mullen point before scoring the first goal of the game to put his side 1-8 to 0-4 in front.
Rovers did manage to pull back two further points before McSorley (2p) and Tony McDonnell found the target before the break to send their team in with a 1-11 to 0-6 advantage.
Hunterstown rallied at the start of the second half by putting five points on the board to cut the gap to just three points, and it was very much game on at that stage.
However, the visitors regained control with scores from Sean Murray, McDonnell and O’Connell to lead by 1-17 to 0-14 entering the closing stages.
The hosts – who had two-pointers on the night from Cian Matthews, Jamie O’Callaghan and Ryan Ward - battled to the end and added two points before finding the net through Ciaran Russell to reduce the deficit to one, but it proved to be the final score of the game as Gaels held out for the win.
Dundalk Gaels: Aaron Culligan; Kyle Rafferty, Oisin Murray, Alan Jumbo; Paddy O’Connell, Luke Murray, Liam Coleman; James O’Connell, Sean Murray 0-1; Jordan Keating, Tony McDonnell 0-2, Jack Mullen 0-1; Cain Bromley 0-1, Thomas O’Connell 1-8 (3x2p), Gerard McSorley 0-4 (2x2p).
Subs: Gary Shevlin for P O’Connell, Stephen Tuohy for J Mullen, Ronan Foley for C Bromley.
Hunterstown Rovers: Cian Matthews 0-2 (2p); Daithi Carroll, Patrick Taaffe, Adam O’Reilly; Colm Murphy 0-2, Micheal Reid 0-1, David Finn; Marc Ward, Shane Halpenny; Jamie O’Callaghan 0-6 (2p), Aaron Levins, James Rogers 0-2; Sam Scott, Tony McKenna, Dean Burns.
Subs: Ryan Ward 0-3 (2p) for S Scott, Ciaran Russell 1-0 for A Levins, Euan Woodlock for M Ward, James Russell for J Rogers, Oran Martin for D Burns.
Naomh Máirtín 1-12 St. Mochtas 0-14
Naomh Máirtín picked up their second Division 1 win of the season when they pipped St Mochtas at home on Friday evening.
In a game that saw little between the teams throughout, it was the Mairtins who did just enough to claim two very welcome points with the help of a late point from Wayne Campbell.
It was hard to separate the teams throughout the first half, and with both showing a good eye for the posts, as the half ended all square at eight points apiece, once again Declan Byrne, Gerry Garland and Dylan Farrell were prominent for the Louth Village side on the night.
It was a similar story in the second half, but crucially, the Mairtins scored the only goal of the game when Eric Winters found the net.
That score contributed to the hosts establishing a two-point lead entering the closing stages, with Campbell’s sixth point of the evening stretching the advantage to three.
The Mochtas rallied and pulled back two points, but the Mairtins had done enough to hold out for the win in a game where Sean Healy, John Clutterbuck and Charlie McDonnell were all on target.
Nh Mairtin: Craig Lynch; Mark Whelan, Shane Morgan, Cian Sands; Cathal Dorian, Eric Winters 1-0, Craig Callanan; Joe McGrane, Wayne Campbell 0-6; Sean Healy 0-1, John Clutterbuck 0-1, Adam Callanan; Jack Lynch 0-1, Ben Callanan 0-2, Charlie McDonnell 0-1.
Subs: Enda McDonnell, Val Leddy, Jack Murphy.
St Mochtas: Daire O Sé; Liam Lawlor, Connell Kearins, Andrew Lennon; Ben Goss, Kieran 0-1, Darren McMahon, Oisin Callan; Dylan Farrell 0-2, Declan Byrne 0-5; Sean Marron, Jamie Farrell, Daniel Craven; Cormac Smith 0-1, Gerry Garland 0-3, Danny Kindlon.
Sub: Conor McKenna for D Kindlon.
Dreadnots 2-11 St. Joseph’s 0-13
Dreadnots ended Joe's seven-match unbeaten run in their Division One league encounter in Clogherhead on Saturday night.
Apart from an early opening score lead, it was the Dreadnots who held the upper hand on the scoring, with two second-half goals in a three-minute spell crucial to their four-point win.
It was David Kieran who got the Joes off the mark, but points from Donnacha Hodgins and Craig Shevlin helped the home side lead by 0-3 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter.
The Joes' cause was not helped through the loss of Killian Staunton to injury, while Craig Shevlin took centre stage as he landed two points along with an Aaron Scullion effort in response to a Craig Doherty point.
Alan Quigley pulled on back for the visitors, but Shevlin had the final say with a two-pointer to send his team in with a 0-8 to 0-3 lead.
The Joes made a bright start to the second half as points from Ben Collier, Jack Mulligan and Cormac Marmion saw them cut the gap to 0-9 to 0-8 heading into the final quarter.
However, the Dreadnots halted the Joes comeback when Paraic Smith made no mistake from a penalty kick awarded for a pass back to the Joes keeper in the 50th minute.
Two minutes later, the Dreadnots had goal number two, when Craig Shevlin crashed the ball into the Joes net.
Ciaran Caffrey pointed to extend the Dreadnots' lead, making it 2-10 to 0-8 with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
The Joes rallied in the final minutes with two points from Rory McLoughlin, a two-pointer from Conor Neary and a 45 from Ben McKeown, reducing the margin to three points as the game entered the final two minutes of added time, but it was the Clogher men who had the final say to secure the win.
St. Josephs: Aaron Gray, Cian Sheridan, Aidan Kieran, Rian Devlin, Conor Neary (0-2), Gabriel Bell, Ben McKeown (0-1), Killian Staunton, David Kieran (0-1), Oisin Reidy, Craig Doherty (0-2), Rory McLoughlin (0-2), Alan Quigley (0-1), Jack Mulligan (0-1), Evan McEnteggart, Cormac Marmion (0-1), Alan Lynch.
Dreadnots: Dylan Cassidy, Barry Faulkner, Conor Faulkner, Enrique Devlin, Conor Shevlin, Alex Aspell, Aaron Scullion 0-1, Paraic Smith 1-0, Cian McEvoy, Calum Shevlin, Donnacha Skinnader, Ciaran Caffrey 0-1, Donnacha Hodgins 0-1, Craig Shevlin 1-6 (2p), Darragh Shevlin 0-1.
Subs: Jay Hughes 0-1 for D Hodgins, Ciaran Cunningham, for Calum Shevlin, Cathal Lynch for D Skinnader, Oscar McKenna for C Lynch.
St. Mary’s 2-18 St. Patrick’s 2-17
St Mary's fought back from an interval deficit as they secured a dramatic one-point victory in Lordship on Saturday night.
It was the home side that got off to a flying start with Padraig Duffy finding the net to open the scoring after three minutes.
The visitors responded with two points, but they were cancelled out by Eoin O’Connor and Joe Connor before the former landed a two-pointer to put his side 1-4 to 0-2 in front.
In a game where Daire McConnon, Ronan Carroll and Jonathan Commins were prominent on the scoreboard, the Ardee side fought to get back into the game.
However, the Pats remained on top with scores from Michael O’Shaughnessy and Aidan McCann before Tadhg O’Connor found the net to make it 2-9 to 0-8 at halftime.
Although the Pats had the first point of the second half, the visitors got themselves right back into the game when a two-pointer was followed by a goal from an Adam Gillespie penalty.
An Eoin O’Connor two-pointer steadied the ship for the hosts, but the Marys replied with a Daire McConnon goal before Josh Taaffe put his side in front for the first time with ten minutes to play.
Once again, the Pats came back and, entering the closing moments, points from Tadhg O’Connor and Tommy Keenan had them in front, but they were unable to hold out for victory as St Mary's struck the last two points to snatch victory.
St Mary's: Gavin Douglas; Conor Keenan, Eimhin Keenan, Fionn Coyle; Flynn Markey, Keelin Martin, Cillian Keenan; Lorcan Buckley, Robbie Leavy; Carl Gillespie 0-3, Andy Murphy 0-1, Jonathan Commins 0-3; Adam Gillespie 1-0, Daire McConnon 1-6, Ronan Carroll 0-4.
Subs: Josh Taaffe 0-1 for C Gillespie, Jay Crawley for L Buckley.
St Patricks: Martin McEneaney; Conor Grogan, Daniel Tumulty, Jack Elvin; Sean Holland, Darren O’Hanlon 0-1, Darren Connor; Micheal O’Shaughnessy 0-1, Padraig Duffy 1-1; Ruairi Traynor, Eoin O’Connor 0-8 (2x2p), Sean Fearon; Aidan McCann 0-1, Joe Connor 0-1, James Savage.
Subs: Tadhg O’Connor 1-3 for S Fearon, Ciaran O’Hanlon for J Elvin, Tommy Keenan0-1 for J Savage.
Cooley Kickhams 1-14 Geraldines 0-11
Cooley Kickhams moved into joint second in the Division 1 table after securing a six-point victory over Geraldines in Haggardstown on Saturday night.
The peninsula side got off to a flying start as Tiarnán Hanniffy had the ball in the back of the net with just a minute on the clock.
His side took confidence from that score and added two further points before the Gers got off the mark after six minutes.
However, it was Cooley who maintained the upper hand, and on an evening when Cian Connor scored six points, they had established a 1-5 to 0-4 lead at the break, with the Gers’ points coming from Brian Cafferty (2), Cian Spaight and David O’Connell.
The Haggardstown men battled throughout the second half, and at the start of the final quarter, they were very much in contention as they cut the gap to 1-7 to 0-8, and with seven minutes to play, it was back to a one-point game, 1-9 to 0-11.
However, Cooley responded to the challenge and kicked the last five points of the game on a night when Emmet Duffy, Niall Morgan and Joe Hanlon contributed important points.
Cooley Kickhams: Niall Brady; Dylan Clarke, Patrick Hanlon, Ronan McBride 0-1; Tiarnán Hanniffy 1-1, Fergal Malone, Oran McAnerney 0-1; Jack Long, Fionn O’Reilly; Niall Morgan 0-2, Cian Connor 0-6, Joe Hanlon 0-1; Sean Hoey, Emmet Duffy 0-2, Brian Boyle.
Subs: Ian Arnold, Thomas McCarragher, Paul Brennan, Michael Carron, Michael-John Hanlon.
Geraldines: Sean McEneaney; Jack McGailey, Dara O'Gradaigh, Jamie Callan; John McGrohan, Jack Traynor, Thomas McNamara; Beanon Corrigan, Brian Cafferty 0-2; Cian Spaight 0-1, Darragh Burke, David O’Connell 0-1; Niall Brennan, Michael Rogers, Josh Arrowsmith.
Newtown Blues 0-22 Mattock Rangers 2-10
Newtown Blues ended their long wait for a Division 1 victory as they got the better of Mattock Rangers in Newfoundwell on Sunday afternoon.
The Drogheda men had shown signs of improvement in their previous outing when they ended their losing run with a draw against St Mochtas, and that boost in confidence was evident as they came out on top to close within one point of the Collon side.
The damage was done in the first half for the hosts as they raced into a 0-15 to 0-5 lead at the half-time whistle.
Eoin McCoy, Johnny McDonnell and Sean Cummins were all in good scoring form for the Blues as they put themselves in a strong position.
Mattock responded well in the second half, and goals from Jack Thompson and Tom Grimes saw them reduce the gap, while they also had Sean Flynn, Oisin McKenna and Robert Holmes among the points.
However, the Blues were not to be denied and came through to win by six, with Ronan Browne and Conor Moore also contributing important scores.
Newtown Blues: Ronan Browne 0-2; Ian Connor, Alan Connor, Joey Nally; Eoin Branigan 0-1, Andy McDonnell, Jamie Kelly 0-1; Johnny McDonnell 0-4, Liam Branigan 0-1; Ewan Hoban 0-1, Ryan Kelly, Sean Cummins 0-4; Ryan Nugent 0-1, Conor Moore 0-2, Eoin McCoy 0-5.
Subs: Colm Judge for A Connor, Flynn Richardson for E Hoban, Niall Devlin for E Branigan.
Mattock Rangers: Stephen Smith; Rian Hickey, Cillian Hickey, Eoin McCloskey; Tom Grimes 1-0, Shane Maguire, Adrian Reid; Robert Holmes 0-1, Ben Watters; Cathal Fleming 0-1, Jack Thompson 1-1, Oisin McKenna 0-2; James Caraher, Sean Flynn 0-5, Nathan Murphy.
Sub: Adam Flynn.