Louth GAA club | Dundalk Young Irelands bid for a swift return to IFC

The Dundalk Young Irelands’ bid for a swift return to the Intermediate Championship ranks at the first time of asking remains intact following this comfortable victory over the John Mitchels in McGeough Park, Haggardstown on Sunday evening last.

Two goals in the opening quarter set the Dundalk side on their way to victory in a game where they won 30 out of 39 kickouts contested over the hour, including 17 out of 24 on the Mitchels kickout.

They also amassed 3-15 from 30 shots over the hour, with their entire scoring tally emanating from open play.

But it was the Mitchels who opened the scoring just passed the 4th minute when a long delivery from Trevor Matthews found Gareth Kane who cut inside from the left to kick over the bar.

On 7 minutes, DYI struck a blow, when following a turnover from Brendan Prendergast in defence, a fine move saw Liam McStravick pick out Dean Maguire following a long run with the ball. Maguire attacked the goal, playing a one/two with his brother Derek before slapping the ball to an empty net for his side’s opening major.

While Dundalk Young Irelands made the most of their goal chances, the Mitchels came close to grabbing a green flag twice in the opening quarter.

Another long delivery from Trevor Matthews, led to Arthur Sands prodding a loose ball over the bar instead of under it from close range, following a challenge from Brendan Prendergast on John Gallagher.

DYI punished them at the other end, thanks to a quickfire 1-1 from Ruairi Kelly. His goal coming after Mitchels’ keeper David Anderson misjudged a long ball from James Prendergast, leaving Kelly to palm the ball to an empty net.

Andrew Bingham did kick over from play to leave the Mitchels four behind by the end of the first quarter at 2-1 to 0-3. Moments earlier, Aaron Keely had fizzed a low shot across the face of the goal and wide, as the Mitchels squandered another goal chance.

That sparked a purple patch for the Mitchels, as following Bingham’s strike, they hit three further points to leave just one between the sides after 22 minutes, at 2-1 to 0-6.

Trevor Matthews set up Gareth Kane to accurately land his second point, before a two pointer from Matthews left the Ballybaile side firmly in contention.

However, DYI stepped things up, scoring seven points without reply to take an eight point lead into the half time break.

As mentioned, DYI were dominant on kickouts, with James Prendergast getting his hands to plenty of possession here, finishing with 24 touches of the ball, as did Jordan O’Dononghue. Meanwhile, Jordan’s brother Cian finished with 32 possessions over the hour.

Sean Murphy also deserves a mention here, having got his hands to several kickouts in the middle third.

James Prendergast’s midfield partner, Michael O’Shea fired over an impressive two pointer with the left boot to end his side’s 11 minute wait for a score.

In that run to half time, DYI won 5 out of 6 Mitchels’ kickouts, scoring five points off the back of this momentum gained.

Dean Maguire kicked over via his left boot, while a brace each from Ruairi Kelly and Derek Maguire left the Dundalk side 2-8 to 0-6 ahead at the break.

The wheels were coming off for the Mitchels at this point, who also lost forward Gareth Kane to a red card, having received a black card to go with a yellow he had collected earlier on.

Second Half:

Dundalk Young Irelands kept the Mitchels at arm’s length, with strikes from Dean Maguire and Ruairi Kelly cancelling out a brace of impressive points from John Gallagher, as they maintained that eight point lead with 39 minutes gone.

But moments later, the Mitchels were handed a potential route back into the game, when Andrew Bingham was fouled by James Prendergast, and referee Bryan Smith awarded a penalty.

However, John Gallagher’s resultant spot kick was saved by DYI keeper, Fearghal Sheeky. From this, Young Irelands landed a two pointer at the other end through Tadgh Hoey to leave them 10 points clear at the end of the that third quarter, in a five point swing which was a blow to the Mitchels’ hopes of a revival.

Both sides did begin to shoot wastefully with some poor wides, before John Gallagher landed a two pointed free for the Mitchels on 50 minutes.

Following a James Prendergast point, DYI struck for their third goal through Sean Murphy, a score which his own efforts deserved, before a Derek Maguire point left his side 3-14 to 0-10 ahead with five minutes remaining.

Sub Jack Watters also came close to a green flag, only for his lob over the keeper to be punched off the line by Mitchels’ Stephen Campbell.

A long ball into the square from John Bingham was punched to the net by John Gallagher to put some respectability on the scoreboard for the Mitchels, before a fisted effort from the lively Derek Maguire concluded the scoring for Dundalk Young Irelands, as they cruised through to the Louth Junior Championship semi-finals, where they take on the Westerns in two weeks’ time, as they look to win the Christy Bellew Cup for the first time since 2018.

Dundalk Young Irelands: Ruairi Kelly (1-4), Dean Maguire (1-2), Derek Maguire (0-4), Sean Murphy (1-0), Michael O’Shea (0-2) (1 tp), Tadgh Hoey (0-2) (1 tp), Brendan Prendergast (0-1).

Dundalk Young Irelands: Fearghal Sheeky; Peter McCourt, Ciaran Murray, Conn O’Donoghue; Cian O’Donoghue, Brendan Prendergast, Tadgh Hoey; James Prendergast, Michael O’Shea; Liam McStravick, Jordan O’Donoghue, Sean Murphy; Dean Maguire, Ruairi Kelly, Derek Maguire.

Subs: Lee O’Donoghue for McCourt (42), Jack Watters for McStravick (51), Evan McArdle for Cian O’Donoghue (57), Sean Hoey for Dean Maguire (59).

John Mitchels: John Gallagher (1-4) (1 tpf) (1f), Gareth Kane (0-2), Trevor Matthews (0-2) (1tp), Andrew Bingham (0-1), Arthur Sands (0-1).

John Mitchels: David Anderson; John Bingham, Eoghan McEneaney, Jake Gillespie; Cole Leavy, Ruairi McCann, Aaron Kane; Trevor Matthews, Andrew Bingham; Arthur Sands, John Gallagher, Jamie Durnin; Aaron Keely, Gareth Kane, Tristan Knowles.

Subs: Stephen Campbell for Aaron Kane (HT), James Sands for Jamie Durnin (37), Adam Finnegan for Keely (46), Stephen Bingham for Andrew Bingham (56).

Referee: Bryan Smith (O’Raghallaghs).