Duleek-Bellewstown 3-10
Nobber 0-9

Duleek Bellewstown came to Castletown hoping to get their SFC campaign back on track and despite coming out on top there is quite a lot for the team to work on if they hope to progress to the knockout stages.

For Duleek Bellewstown this was definitely a game of two distinct halves as they completely dominated the first and struggled to find form in the second when their first score of that half came five minutes from the end.

The turning point of the game and in the second half came in the 22th minute when Stephen Nolan appeared out of nowhere to deflect a goal bound shot which would have reduced the deficit at the time to 3 points with Nobber in the ascendancy.

Dominating around the middle, Duleek Bellewstown started brightly and with two wides already registered, Stephen Nolan opened the scoring in the 4th minute and this was followed by a Con Mc Ginley free and a point from John Flood in the 8th minute when a Nobber clearance was broken in the midfield to Padraig Howard who spotted Flood in the clear and he calmly slotted the third point. This was followed almost immediately by a Nobber free which was converted.

In the 14th minute Casey Dunne had a great catch following a kickout and found Con McGinley on the 45 yard along the side line. Eyeing up the posts he fired over a long range point to leave Duleek Bellewstown 3 points to the good at the end of the first quarter.

At this stage Duleek Bellewstown were completely on top in the middle third and putting Nobber under extreme pressure despite some poor passing and handling errors. A McGinley free and a further John Flood point extended the lead before Eanna Byrne received a pass from the defence and slipped a pass to the on rushing Cianan Byrne on the Nobber 45 and he opened them up with a direct run which brought him to the 14 yard line and he drove past the Nobber keeper.

A further double from a McGinley free and a John Flood point when he pounced on a Nobber block down had extended the lead to 10 points before Padraig Howard was pulled down in the large square in the end of half injury time and Stephen Nolan slotted the resultant penalty.

However Nobber gave an indication that they were not finished with as their centrefielder came downfield and slotted a point with the last kick of the first half with Duleek Bellewstown in front by 2-8 to 0-2.

Nobber began the second half in much more determined fashion and had a point on the board within 15 seconds of the restart which was then followed by a further quick point. Duleek Bellewstown responded but could not find any joy in the scoring stakes.

Following a delay for an injury Nobber found their touch and again gained a foothold in the middle of the field and got 4 further points by the 20th minute and could and possibly should been closer only for some stout defending by the Duleek Bellewstown defence. Then came that Stephen Nolan block which highlighted the fact that a half time cushion was no guarantee and the game was now definitely up for grabs.

In the 25 minute Casey Dunne surged down the left wing and cut inside and pointed from the 40 metres line; This was their first score of the half and had the effect of calming the nerves and getting them back on track . A further Nobber point was matched by a Con MC Ginley Free and as the game entered injury time Darren Mills found himself five yards out and he finished off the scoring by slotting the ball to the net.

While victory was achieved there is plenty to work on for final group game against Moynalvey.

In defence Sean Kennedy and Kevin McCann and Brian Moore performed well while Casey Dunne had some good spells in midfield. Up front Cianan Byrne and John Flood posed plenty of problems for the opposition

Duleek Bellewstown - R Nolan; S Kennedy; K McCann;K Smith; S Crosby; B Moore; D Moore; C Dunne (0-1)E Byrne; C Byrne(1-0); P Howard; S Nolan(1-1); J Flood((0-3) C MGinley(0-5) D Mills(1-0); Subs J Brannigan for SNolan Tweet

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