Duleek-Belewstown 4-17 Dunderry 0-07

Duleek-Bellewstown advanced to the final of the Meade Potato Intermediate Football Championship  with a comprehensive defeat of Dunderry in Pairc Tailteann on Saturday afternoon. 



Coming into the game this was seen as very much a fifty fifty encounter with Duleek-Bellewstown needing that dramatic penalty shootout to get  past St Patricks in the quarter final and Dunderry overcoming the well fancied Oldastle in their quarter final. But not even the most optimistic supporter would have foreseen a 22 point victory as Duleek -Bellewstown overwhelmed a Dunderry side which never seemed to get any momentum going. Whether that was because of the intense and relentless pressure they felt from Duleek-Bellewstown or the fact that, as a dual club, they had a good few players who were playing weekly since mid July is hard to tell, but apart from the first five minutes  they were overwhelmed in all aspects of the contest. 



Playing with a strong breeze into the town goals Dunderry failed to convert 3 chances in the first five minutes  and it was not until the 6th minute  when Tom Bowden  opened the scoring after receiving a pass from his brother Alan and he pointed from 25 yds. Working on their pressure game Duleek-Bellewstown  had 2 further points by Ciaran Flynn and Jamie Crosby by the 10th minute and by the end of the first quarter that lead was pushed to 4 after an Oisin Miland  point following a surging run.
It was not till the 18th minute that Dunderry opened their account with a point from their goalkeeper from a long range free . This was followed by a Jamie Flaherty point in the 20th minute  when he scored with a shot off the outside of his foot from 30 yards.  A point for Dunderry from a Stephen Coogan free after twenty three minutes brought the game back to  a single score game ; A Jamie Crosby fisted point extended and restored the 4 point gap. Then the first turning point of the game arrived; Having lost possession inside the Dunderry 14 yard line intense tacking recovered the ball and    Ciaran Flynn pounced and the net bulged and there was now a 7 point gap. Dunderry had a chance to narrow then with a 14 yard free but struck the post and when the ball landed back with the free taker he missed the follow up opportunity.  Jamie Flaherty and the Dunderry no 15 then swapped  points to leave the scores 1-7 to 0-3 at the break.

Going in at half time the players knew from previous games  that 7 points was never going to be enough and that the second half had to be as intense as the first. They would have known that Dunderry had enough chances in that first half to be a lot closer and if Dunderry got a run on them they it would be difficult to reign back and a good scoring start to the second half was imperative.

Having secured possession from the throw in Shane Crosby Drove down the centre and popped one over from 30 yards within 20 seconds of the restart  ; Dunderry then had a missed opportunity  and straight from the kick out Jamie Flaherty fielded under the stand side , passed  to Alan Bowden  who found Ciaran Flynn along the right sideline and when others might have offloaded he had the confidence to go for broke and using the wind he curled over a lovely score off his left foot. Alan Bowden then got on the score sheet with a point from a cross field pass from Jamie  Flaherty which was immediately followed by a similar score from John Flood. 
Then the clinching score, and the one which put the game beyond Dunderry, came when another midfield turnover was routed to Alan Bowden who won his one on one with the defender and there was only one outcome; Goal; 
So from a 7 point lead at half time that lead had been doubled by the 8th minute to 2-11 to 0-3 and all that was needed then was game management.

Dunderry pointed from play shortly after and two further points from Jamie Crosby and a John Flood free had extended the lead by the end of the third quarter. With the bench being offloaded the playing pattern  was slight disrupted for about 5 minutes but in the 50th minutes John Flood who had been dispossessed himself recovered the ball and sent Johnny McDonnell clear coming in from the left  and spotting the keeper  coming out he goaled with an audacious and cheeky chip. Which was followed by a Tom Bowden point 
Dunderry replied almost immediately and this was followed by further contributions from the bench; first James Mc Weeney, on for Ciaran Flynn, pointed  after been sent clear and this was followed by a Pauric Howard, on for Tom Bowden, point following a break down the left. 
A further McWeeney free and the scoring was finished with a Howard goal after he ghosted in to a breaking ball and sidestepping the defense he goaled.

Dunderry finished the scoring with a last minute free from  Stephen Coogan

Duleek Bellewstown: R Lynch, S O’Leary, K McCann, O Miland, C Ryan, R Clarke, C Byrne, S Crosby, E Lenehan, J Flaherty, J Flood, J Crosby, C Flynn, A Bowden T Bowden, Subs Used:  J Mc Weeney; J McDonnell ,P Howard, E Heeney, S Courtney;
.

A big shout must be given to the support base who were in effect our 16th man. From the moment the players entered the pitch it was obvious from the sound that the support battle was won by Duleek-Bellewstown. It was  a definite help to the players that the volume of encouragement  was non stop; and I know that they definitely appreciated the  applause after the final whistle;  The same and more will be need for the final;

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