GAA | O’Connell’s put another dent in Dowdallshill’s promotion hopes

Division Six League | Dowdallshill 2–7 O’Connell’s 2–14

Dowdallshill’s second string suffered a further blow to their promotion prospects, after going down to their second successive defeat of the campaign on Thursday night.

Having lost for the first time to St Kevin’s last weekend, victory was seen as imperative in a bid to get their promotion charge back on track, however for the second week running, they were made pay the price for a poor first half showing.

Running from deep and finding the spaces, the O’Connell’s were able to pick-off their scores with ease, and they were rewarded for their industry with a brace of goals from midfielder Emmet Byrne, while also prominent during that period of dominance, was the lively Dean Corrigan.

The visitors were much the sharper, and possessed far too much pace for the ‘Hill defence to handle, and it was no surprise that they had a comfortable lead built-up by half-time, 2–9 to 0–4.

Not for the first time this season though, the second half brought about a revival in Dowdallshill’s fortunes. Johnny Burke’s early point set the tone, and the same player then converted a penalty to make it 2–9 to 1–5.

Paul Gill was unlucky not to have found the back of the net soon after, with keeper Sean Connolly deflecting his thunderbolt over the crossbar. John Kerr then pulled off a fine save at the other end to keep the ‘Hill’s outside chances alive.

They were thrown a lifeline when another foul close to goal, saw a second penalty being awarded. This time, Conor McGailey was entrusted with the responsibility, and he calmly stroked the ball home.

The gap was now down to five points with six minutes to play but any hopes of the ‘Hill drawing any closer faded, when the O’Connells tagged-on two more scores, to finally wrap-up victory and put an end to the fight back.

Conor McGailey was the outstanding Dowdallshill player on view, while others to put in good shifts were Damien Fanning, Luke and Emmet O’Brien, keeper John Kerr, Conor McKeown and Johnny Burke.

DOWDALLSHILL: John Kerr, Emmet O’Brien, Damien Fanning, Luke O’Brien, Conor McGailey (1–0), Aidan Moran, David McCrave, Noel Mohan, Conor McKeown, John Burke (1–2), Dermot Smith (0–1), Dylan Mc Donnell (0–1), Robert Traynor, Paul Gill (0–3), Peter Hughes. Subs: Anthony Quinn for R Traynor, Ciaran O’Callaghan for D Smyth, Paul Donaghy for D McDonnell, Gerry McShane for P Hughes.

O’CONNELL’S SCORERS: Emmet Byrne (2–2), Dean Corrigan (0–5), Stuart Osborne (0–3), Conor Culligan (0–2), Sean Connolly (0–1), TJ Doyle (0–1), Stefan O’Hanrahan (0–1).

REFEREE: Kevin Brady.