An emphatic second-half showing was central to Dunboyne's SFC semi-final win over holders Simonstown at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday afternoon.

Dunboyne ....... 2-16

Simonstown ...... 0-8

Dunboyne clinched a final spot by outscoring the outgoing champions by 2-13 to 0-1 when playing breeze assisted towards the town goal in the second-half.  Dunboyne posted 2-10 without reply from the resumption to the 58th minute.

They closed the scoring with a brace of points from Donal Lenihan (one) In between, those points Dunboyne leaked their only second-half score, a pointed free from sub Michael Brennan.  Of greater significance was the scoring exploits of Lenihan and Robert McCarthy. They shared 1-11 between them with McCarthy netting from close range in the 51st minute to make it 1-12 to 0-7. 

Sub Cathal Lacey bagged the second before Simonstown's sole second-half score. By the end Dunboyne had seven different scores.  In addition the Dunboyne rearguard performed magnificently as a unit, something reflected in the few scores they conceded. Dunboyne wasted little time in eating into the interval deficit. Stuart Lowdnes got the rally going. A McCarthy point from play levelled matters for only time, in the 35th minute.  Shortly after sub Conor Doran gave Dunboyne the lead for the first time. They wasted little time in extending it. Dunboyne doubled their advantage shortly when a Lenihan penalty skied over the bar.  Undeterred Dunboyne just piled on the points before cutting loose in the final quarter when they outscored Simonstown by 2-5 to 0-1.  Simonstown played into the town goal for the first 30 minutes. The champions put three points on the board in the opening eight minutes, with two Padraig McKeever frees and a James Kilcullen effort from play.  A foul on Nathan O'Brien led to a penalty for Simonstown. However, Dunboyne 'keeper Cian Flynn 'read' Mark McCabe's 12th minute effort and parried it.  Dunboyne came into the game over the next 15 minutes, outscoring the 'Gaels by 0-3 to 0-1. Two of those scores came courtesy of Robert McCarthy. David McEntee added the third to trim the deficit to the minimum, 0-3 to 0-4.  Simonstown closed out the half with three points on the spin, including one from sub Nathan O'Brien to reach half-time leading by 0-7 to 0-3.

Dunboyne - Cian Flynn; Sean Ryan, Shane McEntee (0-1), Jack Donnelly; Cathal Finn, Gavin McCoy, Seamus Lavin; Ronan Jones, Niall Jones (0-1); Stuart Lowdnes (0-1), David McEntee (0-1), Liam Byrne; Robert McCarthy (1-4, 2fs), Cian O'Dwyer, Donal Lenihan (0-7, 3fs, 1 pen). Subs - Conor Doran (0-1) for Finn (4).

Simonstown - Robert Burlingham; Shane Gallagher, Stephen Moran, Mark Gardiner; Brian McGrath, Brian Conlon, Niall Kane (C); James Kilcullen (0-1), Sean Tobin; Mark McCabe, Padraig McKeever (0-5, 4fs), Nicky O'Brien; Ben Hoey, Conor Sheridan, Andrew Kearney. Subs - Nathan O'Brien (0-1) for Kearney (29), Stephen O'Reilly for Kane (46), Eanna Donoghue for O'Reilly (52), Joe Lyons for Gallagher (53), Michael Brennan (0-1 f) for Lyons (56).

Ref: Cormac Reilly (St Mary's).

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