Dundrum
Progress to Reserve League Final - 18/10/2003
East
Down Reserve Football League Cup Playoff.
Dundrum 1-09 Drumaness 1-07
It was simple. Dundrum needed a win to progress to the final.
Defeat or stalemate would not be suffice. It was all or nothing for the homeside.
However, despite their narrow victory the Duns were very close to bowing out.
It took a fantastic penalty save from young Collie King to send Drumaness crashing
to their first defeat of the campaign. Ironically it will be the same two teams
competing this Sunday for the silverware.
Drumaness who
were recently crowned league champions were first off the mark. They grabbed a
rather fortuitous goal after only two minutes of action.Yet their over reliance
on trying to find the back of Dundrum net proved far too costly as they were guilty
of spurning numerous chances which could of resulted in points.
Dundrum discovered their momentum after a quarter of an hour as Thomas McShane,
Rab Smith and Cormac Venney found their range. Gerard Toman momentarilly restored
the Drumaness lead before some ugly scenes marred what had been a very well tempered
affair. The away side saw two of their forward line march whilst Arran Doyle walked
for Dundrum.
The dismissals had a huge bearing on the outcome
of the game as Dundrum gained the advantage of playing Paul Byrne as the extra
man at the back. This tactical switch reaped immediate dividends as the Duns added
1-03 to their tally going in at the break.
The dangerous
Rab Smith scored the Dundrum goal with a speculative long range effort as Paddy
Doran, Kieran Byrne and Gerry Graham tagged on three more points. Despite having
to play catch up for the rest of the game Drumaness deserved a lot of credit in
the 2nd half. They defended in numbers and used the counter attack admirably to
their advantage.
Early points from McAleenan and Bell reduced
the deficit to three but that elusive goal was not forthcoming. It took fifteen
minutes before the homesters added to the scoreboard. Even this Cormac Venney
effort was no enough to spur his teamates on. Lapses in concentration let the
Ness in for two scores to leave a couple in it.
With the
gusty wind dying down Dundrum abandoned their short passing game in favour of
a long ball approach. It worked a little better and Paddy Doran was first to benefit
as he fired over from close range. But the sheer persistence of Drumaness carried
through and they raced quickly back up the field. Another score left the game
on tenterhooks.
It was the final five minutes when the
pressure became too much for the Duns. Seamus Garlan committed a foul inside his
own penalty area. There was only one outcome. Big Ricky McKee stepped up confidently.
He dispatched his shot with an almighty force toward the top corner but it was
the agile Collie King who denied the away side in spectacular fashion. His acrobatic
heroics give rise to a final Dundrum attack which ended with their final point
of the night. Drumaness got a consolation late on but it wasn't enough as the
Duns hung on to clinch their place in Sunday's showdown.
Dundrum:
C.King, P.Byrne, D.McGrattan, A.Doyle, S.Garlan, N.McComiskey,
J.McKibben, G.Graham, J.Hurley, K.Byrne, P.Doran, C.Venney, R.Smyth, T.McShane,
M.Fitzsimons.
Subs:
C.McShane, M.Walsh, P.McGrattan.
