Duleek Bellewstown 0-12 Blackhall Gaels 1-6

Duleek Bellewstown made it two from two when overcoming Blackhall Gaels in this Meade farm Group Intermediate Championship Group B game on a blustery evening in Kilbride. The win guarantees a quarter final spot.

Playing against the  diagonal wind blowing towards the clubhouse end in Kilbride it was Blackhall who opened on a positive note and were two points to the good after 5 minutes with a pointed free an a point from play.

Duleek Bellewstown then got control around the middle third and began to press forward in numbers. A couple of early wides followed before Shane Crosby opened the account on 7 minutes with a trademark long distance effort. Robin Clarke had the sides level in the 10th minute before Shane Crosby pointed on 12. A Jamie Crosby point from a mark after a pinpoint pass from Cianan Byrne had the gap at 2 points at the end of the first quarter.

With Blackhall playing with fourteen inside their own 45 it was tough going to make progress and in forcing shots Duleek Bellewstown were guilty of a few wides and balls dropping short and it took until the 25th minute before Cianan Byrne pointed after some good and speedy interplay. As the half closed out it looked like the 3 point gap would be the difference but two injury time points by Darren Heeney and James McWeeney put a better perspective on the scoreboard.

Duleek Bellewstown 0-7 Blackhall Gaels 0-2

The second half opened with a point by Alan Bowden off his left after some quick recycling from Cianan Byrne and in a rare attack Blackhall raised the white flag with a pointed free. As the fortieth minute approached the lead was extended with a James McWeeney free following a foul on Darren Heeney. Eoghan Heeney got on the score sheet with a nice point  and extended the lead to seven as the game entered the final quarter and at that stage it looked like all that had to done was to manage out the  game.  But Blackhall were beginning to get a bit of belief and only for a fine save from Ryan Lynch the deficit would have been reduced.

As the game began the final quarter Blackhall secured their lifeline and a bit of a resurgence followed. Following one of their kick outs a long high ball was floated into the Duleek Bellewstown 14 yard line and in what could only be described as a fortuitous challenge by the Blackhall full forward the ball broke free and their wing forward drove low to the net. From the resulting kick out Robin Clarke broke through the Blackhall defence and his shot was saved. From there Blackhall drove downfield and Ryan lynch was called upon again to save with the concession of a 45 which Blackhall pointed. So in the space of 4 minutes the gap was down to a single score and the folk outside the fence were getting edgy.

A further Blackhall point in the 50th minute had the gap at two while Duleek Bellewstown were attacking the radar was off and shot selection was poor and the wide count was mounting. Another Blackhall free had the gap to a single point with 3 minutes on the clock. Then James McWeeney steadied the ship when he secured a mark about 40 yds out on the left hand side and he held his nerve to calmly slot a steadying score as the clock crossed the 60 minute mark. An Alan Bowden free from the edge of the D in the 63rd minute completed the scoring.

Next up is the final group game against Castletown in Donore in two weeks time to determine the top two placings

Duleek Bellewstown: R Lynch, C Regan, K McCann, S O’Leary, B Fitzpatrick, R Clarke (0-1), C Byrne (0-1), A Bowden (0-2) S Crosby (0-2), D Heeney (0-1), J Mc Donnell, J McWeeney (0-3), J Hartford, J Crosby (0-1), E Heeney (0-1), Subs used: K Callaghan, C Flynn, D Collins, E Lenehan

Tweet

Most Read Stories