Louth GAA club | Senior Football Championship round-up

Cooley Kickhams 1-15 Newtown Blues 1-14

Michael Rafferty was the hero for Cooley Kickhams in Haggardstown on Saturday evening as he landed an injury-time free to give his side victory over Newtown Blues in a dramatic finale.

Ciaran Downey looked to have given the Drogheda men their second Group 3 victory when he landed a late two-pointer, only for Fergal Malone to reply with an orange flag before Rafferty stole it at the death.

However, despite losing out the margin of the defeat combined with their victory over Dreadnots in round one will see the Blues into the last eight.

The teams exchanged early points through Emmet Carolan and Paul Brennan before the Blues went four clear thanks to Downey (2p), Andy McDonnell and Conor MacCriosta.

It was 0-7 to 0-2 at the end of the first quarter, but Cooley found their rhythm and with Cian Connor, Jack Long, Emmet Duffy and Gerry Malone all on the mark, the peninsula side made eight points apiece at the interval.

MacCriosta started the second half with a two-pointer, only for Cooley to hit back in style with a well-taken goal from Niall Morgan to edge ahead for the first time in the game on 44 minutes.

An entertaining encounter took another turn when a piece of quick thinking from Eoin McCoy saw him blast the ball to the top corner after goalkeeper Niall Brady had been penalised for delaying the kick-out.

A Cian Connor orange flag kept the Kickhams in touch but it looked as if Downey’s two-pointer would settle the issue only for Malone and Rafferty to snatch victory in injury time after Emmet Carolan had picked up a red card.

Newtown Blues: Ronan Browne; Iollan Farrell, Alan Connor, Ciaran Cluskey-Kelly; Liam Branigan, Daire Nally, Eoin Branigan; Emmet Carolan 0-1, Ryan Kelly 0-1; Conor MacCriosta 0-3 (2p), Ciaran Downey 0-5 (2x2p), Conor Branigan 0-1; Jamie Kelly 0-1, Andy McDonnell 0-2, Eoin McCoy 1-0.

Subs: Joey Nally for C Cluskey-Kelly, Ewan Hoban for E Branigan.

Cooley Kickhams: Niall Brady; Ian Arnold, Darren Marks, Ronan McBride; Tiarnan Hanniffy, Niall Morgan 1-1, Gerry Malone 0-1; Jack Long 0-1, Fearghal Malone 0-2 (2p); Emmet Duffy 0-1, Paul Brennan 0-1, Enda O’Neill; Cian Connor 0-4 (2p), Michael Rafferty 0-4, Joseph Hanlon.

Subs: Brian Boyle for E Duffy, Gerard Hanlon for E O’Neill, Oran McAnerney for F Malone, Sean Hoey for G Malone.

Dundalk Gaels 2-16 St Patricks 0-13

Dundalk Gaels advanced to the knock-out stages of the Senior Championship thanks to a comfortable win over St Patricks at Haggardstown on Sunday afternoon.

Tom O’Connell was once again the man of the moment for The Ramparts side as he finished the day with an impressive tally of 2-8, to make it two wins from two following their opening round victory over Roche Emmets.

There was little between the teams in the opening exchanges with points from Luke Murray (2) and O’Connell being cancelled out by Micheal O’Shaughnessy, Leonard Grey and Aidan McCann at the end of the first quarter.

However, the game turned in the 19th minute when O’Connell scored his first goal and from that stage his team never looked back.

The Pats were unable to cope with the attacking threat as Gaels followed up with two-pointers from O’Connell and Jack Mullen to open up an eight point gap.

Jack Murphy briefly halted their gallop with back-to-back points but the Dundalk men continued to make hay and finished with points from Jordan Keating and O’Connell to lead by 1-11 to 0-5 at half time.

The Pats steadied the ship at the start of the second half and had points from Murphy, McCann and Joe Connor before Martin McEneaney landed a two-pointer free to cut the gap to 1-13 to 0-10 heading into the final quarter.

However, the Gaels’ response was swift and decisive as they quashed any hope of a comeback when O’Connell added his second goal of the game.

It was comfortable for the town side in the closing stages and the sealed an impressive display with late scores from Gary Shevlin and Shaun Duffy.

Dundalk Gaels: Aaron Culligan; Shaun Duffy 0-1, James Lynch, Kyle Rafferty; Luke Murray 0-2, Padraic Tinnelly, Cain Bromley; James Stewart, James O’Connell; Jordan Keating 0-1, Sean Murray, Jack Mullen 0-2 (2p); Gerard McSorley, Thomas O’Connell 2-8 (2p), Chris Sweeney.

Subs: Tony McDonnell 0-1 for G McSorley, Michael Quinlivan for C Bromley, Conor McDonnell for J Keating, Gary Shevlin 0-1 for C Sweeney.

St Patricks: Martin McEneaney 0-2 (2p); Sean Holland, Rory Duffy, Conor Grogan; Darren O’Hanlon, Barry Dunne, Darren Connor; Eoin O’Connor, Leonard Grey 0-1; Aidan McCann 0-2, Jack Murphy 0-6, Micheal O’Shaughnessy 0-1; Sean Fearon 0-1, Ciaran Murphy, Joe Connor 0-1.

Subs: Tadhg O’Connor for R Duffy, Kevin Toner for D O’Hanlon, Tom McCann for A McCann, Joe Holland for S Holland.

Hunterstown Rovers 1-14 St Marys 0-14

Hunterstown Rovers pulled off the first big surprise of the Senior Championship when they got the better of their neighbours in Darver on Sunday evening.

The Ardee men went into this Group 1 game on the back of an impressive display against St Mochtas on Monday night and were expected to add a second win against their local rivals.

However, Rovers had other ideas and deservedly claimed a three-point win with Sam Scott’s second half goal proving the difference between the side.

Hunterstown shrugged off their recent disappointing league form as they set their stall out early. Ryan Burns was denied a goal by Tiernan Markey before the Louth player opened the scoring from a free followed by another from brother Dean.

Ryan had a third point before St Marys got off the mark through Daire McConnon and the Ardee men found themselves back on terms at four points apiece after a Sean Callaghan effort was followed by a Keelin Martin two-pointer.

However, Rovers weren’t going to let the initiative slip and orange flags from Ciaran Russell and Ryan Burns helped them take a 0-9 to 0-6 lead into the break.

It remained very competitive after the restart with a Jonathan Commins two-pointer being added to by a Tom Jackson point, but Hunterstown replied with a Colm Murphy point and struck the decisive blow on 40 minutes when Sam Scott found the net to open up a 1-11 to 0-9 gap.

The Marys responded with scores from the Jacksons and Carl Gillespie but Ryan Burns landed a crucial two-pointer to maintain the gap.

In the closing stages a Tiernan Markey orange flag left just two points between the team but in a tense finish it was Ryan Burns who had the final say with an injury time point to secure a memorable win.

Hunterstown Rovers: Donovan Sheridan; Euan Woodlock, Patrick Taaffe, Daithi Carroll; Cillian Taaffe, Micheal Reid, James Rogers; Jason Monaghan, James Russell; Colm Murphy 0-1, Ciaran Russell 0-3 (2p), Tony McKenna; Dean Burns 0-1, Jamie O’Callaghan, Ryan Burns 0-9 (2x2p).

Subs: Sam Scott 1-0 for C Taaffe, Aaron Levins for C Murphy.

St Marys: Tiernan Markey 0-2; Paraic McKenny, Donal McKenny, Fionn Coyle; Kian Moran, Keelin Martin 0-1, Flynn Markey; Sean Callaghan 0-1, Eimhin Keenan; Tom Jackson 0-3; Ciaran Keenan 0-1, Jonathan Commins 0-2; Adam Gillespie, Conor Gillespie 0-1, Daire McConnon 0-1. Subs: Liam Jackson 0-1, Carl Gillespie 0-1.

Subs: Liam Jackson 0-1 for D McConnon, Carl Gillespie 0-1 for A Gillespie, Tadhg McDonnell for K Moran, Shane Mathews for Conor Gillespie.