Duleek Bellewstown 2-9 Blackhall Gaels 0-11

Two second half goals proved decisive as Duleek Bellewstown overcame a determined Blackhall Gaels side in Ardcath on Sunday evening.

With a red card, some bookings, this was typical championship fare with both teams defending strongly and not yielding an inch to their opponents.  By time scoring chances were at a premium through good defending while at other times some quick fast flowing  football was played  by both sides in their execution of scores.

Playing with the aid of a slight breeze Duleek Bellewstown opened well and were on the offensive immediately and were out of luck with some early attempts the quarter was tense as both team probed for scores. Duleek Bellewstown opened  the scoring in the 6th minute with a Jamie Crosby free which the Gaels replied to shortly afterwards with their own free and they went in front soon after with another free. With defences on top it took until the 15th minute for John Flood to level things up with a pointed free.  The Gaels then took a two point lead with further pointed free and the first point from play on 20 minutes..

As the game settled the final 10 minutes of the half provided more scores. Points from John Food and Mark Collins had the teams level with 5 minutes left and a further Blackhall point had them in front again but Jamie Crosby secured his second point of the half following a fine catch from Jamie Flaherty. As the half entered stoppage John Mc Donnell pointed from play to restore the lead only for Blackhall to level with a pointed free on the stroke of half time

As in the first half Duleek Bellewstown opened strongly and were rewarded after 90 seconds with a clinical finish for goal from Ciaran Flynn after some quick handling in the build-up. This was followed almost immediately by a Mark Collins point the gap was now at four. Pauric Howard extended that to five before Blackhall had a period of resurgence. Two further points in the 6th and 10th minutes reduced the gap to three and it was down to two the end of the third quarter. A fine Robin Clarke point after a driving run down the middle broke the Blackhall momentum.

The definitive score then came when Mark Collins produced an exceptional jump in the middle of a group of defenders and  fielded a high cross field  pass in the at the edge of the large square and was subsequently  fouled.  Shane Crosby then calmly stoked the resultant penalty to the net to put four points between the teams again. Blackhall to their credit never gave up and two further points  in stoppage time reduced the gap to two before the final whistle.

This result means that Duleek Bellewstown have qualified for the concluding stages of the Championship, while Blackhall will have to overcome Walterstown in their final game to proceed.

A special word of praise to the Ardcath Club for their excellent venue and presentation of the fixture with a well appointed playing surface, plenty of  parking, and loads of stewards .

Duleek Bellewstown:  A Dowling, D McCabe,  K McCann, S McArdle, S Crosby, B Moore, D Moore, R Clarke, J Flaherty, P Howard, J Flood, J Crosby, J Mc Donnell, M Collins, C Flynn, Subs Used, C Byrne, J Roche, J Murphy, S Townley,

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