Drumconrath 1-15 Cortown 1-08

An understrength Cortown slumped to a second consecutive defeat of the Tailteann Shield on their travels to a bitterly cold Drumconrath on Thursday night.

Despite leading by three at the break and five early in the second half, the visitors never really put the game to bed with their hosts producing a much better final quarter to take the spoils.

Drumconrath played with the aid of a stiff breeze from the start which subsequently eased as the evening went on. They did however kick the first two scores of the evening to open up an early lead.

After the slow start, Cortown did improve for the remainder of the half with Oisin Smith and Davy Rispin restoring parity. A Drums free was cancelled out by a neat effort from Jake Coyne to leave things three apiece after 15 minutes.

Cortown struck the games opening goal moments later to lead for the first time in the contest. The unorthodox full forward Daragh O'Halloran swung a hopeful ball across the area with Smith doing well to collect and finish low into the corner of the net.

The team in red did reduce the gap to two momentarily but Smith soon reestablished the three point buffer for the away side approaching the break to give Cortown a 1-4 to 0-4 half time advantage.

It all looked to be going swimmingly for the travelling team with Rispin and the raiding Charlie Smith posting quickfire scores to open up a five point margin.

That's as good as it got in truth with the hosts getting on top of the midfield exchanges. That, pitted with some favourable decisions and poor play from their opponents enabled Gordon Weldon's troops to forge a fourth quarter revival.

The influence of former Ballinabrackey man Michael Kearney and the old warhorse Stephen Crosby helped Drumconrath get within striking distance again coming down the stretch.

Smith did arrest the slide temporarily with a finely executed free which yielded the sole two-pointer of the evening, however that proved to be Cortown's last score of the game.

A plethora of generous frees were disposed of with the minimum of fuss from Oran Brady and Daniel Byrne to hand the 'Drums the lead once more.

A late goal added some gloss to the scoresheet from a Drumconrath perspective but the die was cast at this point regardless.

The win leaves Drumconrath in a straight shootout with Moynalty in the final group game. Cortown, who are already out of contention for a Semi-Final berth, travel to already qualified St Mary's in a fortnight's time.

Cortown: Jack Finnegan; Luke Carberry, Barry Canning, Decky Clarke; Gavin Clarke, Theo Staunton, Charlie Smith (0-1); Stevie Clarke, Luca Brady; Ciaran Keating, Davy Rispin (0-2), Elliot Reilly; Jake Coyne (0-1), Daragh O'Halloran, Oisin Smith (1-4 one two point free)

Subs: Josh Keating, Conor Mulroe.

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