East Down Minor Football
League Section B
Loughinisland 2-13 Dundrum 1-10
By
Marc Mac Siomoin [marc_mac_siomoin@yahoo.co.uk]
*East Down Minor Football
League Section B
Loughinisland 2-13 Dundrum 1-10
Dundrum suffered their first defeat
of the campaign against a well drilled
Loughinisland side at St Macartan's
Park on Sunday morning. Both sides had
entered the game with good form but
it was Loughinisland who looked the
stronger unit and in the end they ran
out deserved six point winners.
The game, which was played on a pristine
surface, came to life in the early exchanges.
Loughinisland opened the scoring only
for Dundrum to reply with three. The
first was a sweet effort from Conor
McShane and then two well taken frees
from Chris Hogg put Dundrum two clear
after nine minutes.
Loughinisland then regained control
with three points on the trot to put
themselves one clear. Hogg momentarilly
levelled the game before Seamus O'Hare
hit back with a long range free to put
the Island back in to the ascendency.
As the match approached halftime, Dundrum
spurred on by midfield dynamo Marty
Melville grabbed two scores to take
the lead again. Another well hit free
from Hogg was followed by a sublime
Michael Robb point only for Loughinisland
to convert on the stroke of halftime.
The sides went in with six points apeice.
The second half was very different to
the first. Dundrum found it very difficult
to win ball in the middle and this cost
them dearly as Loughinisland dominated
from start to finish. Two early scores
came the homesides way. This helped
settle the Island boys.
Five minutes in Hogg sent over another
set peice but Loughinisland proceeded
to show their quality as they struck
2-03 without reply to demolish Dundrum's
confidence.
Ten points separated the sides at this
stage but Dundrum never gave up and
their mini rally yielded three points.
Yet this was nowhere near enough and
a couple of late scores from McNamara
and sublime finish from Turley put three
goals between the entities.
The last meaningful action of the game
saw Hogg slot the ball under Gordon
despite the keeper pulling off a super
save from the goalscorers penalty effort.
This left only six points as the difference
between the sides.
Overall, this was a great performance
from Loughinisland. At the back Cochrane
and Ben O'Reilly gave little away whilst
Jamie O'Reilly revelled in the midfield
cauldron. In the forwards Seamus O'Hare
looked dangerous from set peices whilst
McKinney, Turley and McNamara worked
extremely hard for the hour.
This was Dundrum's least effective performance
to date. After registering wins over
St Johns/Dromara, Bredagh and Teconnaught,
they were full of confidence but at
the end of day Loughinisland proved
to be the more economical team. However,
Dundrum are sure to bounce back.
Dundrum: J.Kennedy, K.McShane, P.Cunningham,
B.Melville, A.Rooney, M.Cunningham,
D.Kavanagh, M.Rooney, M.Melville, C.McShane
(0-02), C.Hogg (1-07, 7 Frees), S.Kavanagh,
P.Rooney, M.Robb (0-01), M.Smith. Sub:
H.Robb
