Duleek Bellewstown 0-9 Castletown 1-8 

A strong second half display by Castletown delivered a first championship defeat to Duleek- Bellewstown in Seneschalstown. Indeed, Cian Flanagan’s men had the better of a low scoring first half and should have had more than a two-point lead at the break where they had two opportunities to hit the Castletown net. 

DB got off the mark with a John Flood score on 2 minutes. Floody added to his haul for the day with a free after 5 minutes after a foul on Darren Heeney. It was clear by the thirteen minute, when Castletown were one point up, that this was going to be a real championship battle. Some great play by Robin Clarke and Shane Crosby in midfield set up Jamie Crosby for a point off his right foot to level the score at three points each on 14 minutes. James McWeeney got his first point of the day a minute later, after some good work from Alan Bowden and Cianán Byrne. DB had a major scare on 18 minutes when a Castletown attack resulted in the ball rolling across the DB goal mouth, however Ryan Lynch handled the situation well. DB had two missed goal opportunities in the 20th and 27th minutes. Some good combination work between Oisín Miland, Tom Bowden and Darren Heaney nearly resulted in the first goal opportunity on 20 minutes. 

James McWeeney’s second score of the day on 23 minutes came from a free, won by Eamonn Armstrong to give a 0-5 to 0-4 lead. A Jamie Crosby point on 27 minutes could just have as easily ended up in the net (0-6 to 0-4 lead). Overall, the men in black jerseys were having the better of the first half. However the threat from the Castletown forwards was real and required a couple of exceptional tackles from Cillian Kirwan and strong defending from Colm Regan. DB saw out the last few minutes of the first half with some excellent defensive play. 

Half Time: DB 0-6 Castletown 0-4 

Castletown started the second half on the front foot and DB were having to defend in numbers. Castletown won a free on 34 minutes and the resulting free was missed by their usually accurate number 9. An injury to James McWeeney on 37 minutes saw the introduction of Eoghan Heeney. The game was starting to heat up and there were some heavy tackles from both teams with Sam O’Leary giving his all. Castletown were applying most of the pressure and got the first score of the second half on 42 minutes to reduce the gap to a single point. DB were the team under pressure at this stage and the Castletown equalising point arrived on 44 minutes. 

In a low scoring game, the significant score of the day arrived on 46 minutes when a long ball into the DB goal-mouth area, resulted in a Castletown goal to give them a 3-point lead. DBs first score of the second half came after 53 minutes when Oisín Miland and Shane Crosby set up an Eoghan Heeney mark which Eoghan converted to announce his return from injury. DB were starting to get their way back into the game at this point but finding Castletown hard to break down and a Castletown point on 58 minutes restored the gap to a single goal. A fine Dylan Collins point on 59 minutes reduced the gap to two points and DB were really going for it at this stage. An Eoghan Heeney free, two minutes into injury time, reduced the gap to a single point. DB were pressing hard for an equaliser, but lost possession and Castletown countered with an attack which resulted in a free, which was to be the final score of the day on 64 minutes. 

Duleek -Bellewstown management and players will look to dust themselves down and get their championship bid back on track when they play Ballivor on Friday 6th September at 7:30 in Trim.  

Duleek-Bellewstown: Ryan Lynch, Sam O’Leary, Colm Regan, Cillian Kirwan, Oisín Miland, Cianán Byrne, Robin Clarke, Shane Crosby, Tom Bowden, Darren Heeney, Alan Bowden, Eamonn Armstrong, John Flood (0-2), Jamie Crosby (0-2), James McWeeney (0-2). 

Subs used: Eoghan Heeney (0-2; 37 mins), Dylan Collins (0-1; 45 mins), Brian Fitzpatrick (51 mins)    

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