Dundrum
2-09 St Pauls 0-08
St Pauls
travelled to Dundrum on Friday
night and gave the hosts a
good test before eventually
succumbing to some swift
powerplay from John McShane's
charges.
The game
was played in slippery
conditions and the Hollywood
men found the going tough in
the opening exchanges. After
eighteen minutes they were
down by three points but in
all fairness they plugged away
admirably till the death.
Veteran
Paddy Doran got the Duns out
of the stalls and the
dangerous Cormac Venney added
to this moments later. St
Pauls countered but it was the
deadly duo of Doran and Venney
who scored a point apeice
again to put a goal between
the teams.
On twenty
minutes St Pauls registered
their second score but in the
resulting passage of play
Dundrum got a goal thanks to
an audacious lob from Cormac
Venney. Kieran Walsh followed
this up with a well struck
free but St Pauls fought hard
to win two frees in the
closing skirmishes, both of
which were converted.
The wind
picked up for the start of the
second half and St Pauls used
their advantage wisely,
gaining themselves two scores
in the opening couple of
minutes. Only two points
separated the teams at this
stage.
After this
Dundrum reshuffled their pack
and it proved successful as
sharpshooter Venney had
himself another point and
Kieran Walsh crashed home a
penalty to restore their lead
to six points.
A Eunan
Donnelly free midway through
threatened to bring the away
side back into it but
consecutive scores from Johnny
McMullan, Cormac Venney and
Marty Coughlan ensured that
the Duns would take the
spoils. A late free from St
Pauls proved to be mere
consolation.
The
worrying issue from a Dundrum
point of view is that they hit
fourteen wides during the
game. Eight in the first half
and six in the second. This
problem will have to be ironed
out for future games.
In terms of
performance, Dundrum did what
they had to do. They got the
two points without being
overly impressive.
Colm King
had another assured game in
goals, pulling off a
tremendous save midway through
the second half. This was his
second consecutive clean
sheet. The six backs had to be
alert all through the game as
St Pauls had a couple of nippy
forwards. Conor McKibbin
looked back to his best whilst
Johnny McMullan looked a lot
more comfortable when he was
switched from full back to
wing half. Substitutes Mickey
Murray and Neil
McLaughlin were strong on the
ball when introduced and they
should be pushing for a
starting berth in the next few
weeks.
Midfield
provided the basis for most of
Dundrum's attacks and despite
the efforts of Brian McIllroy,
Kieran Walsh ruled the roost
for the hour making five clean
catches in the process. Aaron
Doyle beavered away alongside
him and covered every blade of
grass in a very energetic
performance.
The
forwards had a Jekyll and Hyde
kind of day. One moment they
were slotting them home from
all angles whilst the next
glaring misses became
commonplace. Paddy Doran and
Cormac Venney were the best on
view whilst Conor McShane and
Martin Coughlan done well in
collecting break ball.
This was a
game Dundrum could of won by a
lot more but in all fairness
to St Pauls, they were a tough
opposition. The return trip to
Holywood will not be one that
the Duns will relish.
Dundrum:
C.King, C.McKibbin, J.McMullan
(0-01), M.Rooney, P.Shields,
J.Hurley, N.McComiskey,
K.Walsh (1-01, 1 Pen, 1 Free),
A.Doyle, C.McShane, P.Doran
(0-02), J.McKibbin, M.Coughlan
(0-01), C.Kielty, C.Venney
(1-04). Subs: M.Murray,
N.McLaughlin
