David Gallagher emerged as the hero of the hour as Dunboyne overcame Colm O'Rourke's side, for the third time this year, to book their place in the last four of the Navan Shopping Centre SFC following an enthralling encounter at Skryne. Dunboyne 1-10 Simonstown Gaels 0-10 The big county panelist was completely dominant around midfield for most of the contest before making a marathon dash back between the posts to save a late penalty from John Lunney. This was ultimately the deciding moment in the game. Dunboyne, playing their second major game in five days, were slow out of the traps as Lunney and captain Ned Kearney boosted the Gaels to an early 0-04 to 0-01 lead with Ken Gannon providing the Dunboyne reply. Simonstown enjoyed the vast majority of the play for the remainder of the half but Gerry Cooney and company will have to have been the happier heading down the tunnel only trailing by one, 0-05 to 0-04, with Gallagher, Nigel Crawford and Gary Watters completing their tally. Against Gaeil Colmcille early in the week, Dunboyne secured victory with a blistering start to the second half and so it proved this time around. From the throw in, Nigel Crawford broke the ball to star man Gallagher who sent Gary Watters away and he made no mistake when firing past David Nolan. Points followed from Leo Reilly (two), Paul Watters and Gallagher and Simonstown were left with a 1-08 to 0-05 deficit and a mountain to climb. Kearney and Lunney then set about a rescue mission and managed to narrow the gap to four and then suddenly O'Rourke's side were thrown a life line when a Dunboyne defender was adjudged to have handled on the ground and a spot kick was awarded which, if converted, would have left the minimum in it. It was then the county sub goalie showed his metal when blocking out Lunney's effort. Incidentally, the RTE analyst insisted that he change his jersey while facing the penalty, which meant that Gallagher was able to pick the ball clean off the ground after saving Lunney's goal attempt. Had he not changed his shirt, the kick would have had to be retaken. That realistically represented Simonstown's last chance and soon afterwards the insurance score came as sub Gerard Grehan secured Dunboyne's semi spot. Scorers: G.Watters (1-1), D.Gallagher & L.Reilly (0-2 each), P.Watters, N.Crawford, K.Gannon, C.O'Donoghue & G.Grehan (0-1 each). Dunboyne: S.Mulvey; D.Sweeney, P.Byrne, P.Gannon; P.Watters, T.O'Connor, B.Watters; N.Crawford, D.Gallagher; G.Watters, G.O'Toole, L.Reilly; K.Gannon, R.Brennan, C.O'Donoghue. Subs; G.Grehan for Gannon, A.McEntee for O'Donoghue, L.Duggan for McEntee. Referee: N.Martin (St Mary's) Tweet

Most Read Stories