Northern Switchgear Senior Football Championship
Group 3
St Gall’s 2-10 Dunloy 2-11
Saturday 12 August
Brendan McTaggart reports from De La Salle Park, Belfast
Forever known throughout the county as a championship team, Dunloy showed their pedigree once more. Written off in all corners apart from the village, the Cuchullains shocked St Galls in their own backyard to make it a winning return to the senior championship.
Playing at this level for the first time in 14 years, Dunloy overcame a two point half time deficit and had St Galls on the backfoot for long periods in the second half. Using the pace and power of Keelan Molloy, Deaglan Smith and Nigel Elliott from deep to create chances throughout but it was the performance of Seaan Elliott that shone. He would finish with 0-4 for the hour, one of those from a different postcode and bewildering footwork making little of the tough underfoot conditions, Elliott led the Dunloy charge.
St Galls will look at the last ten minutes of the hour at when this one got away from them. The brilliant Niall Burns had just scored their second goal of the game to give them a two point lead in the 49th minute but they wouldn’t raise another white flag until injury time and the Cuchullains had taken a stranglehold of the game at that period.
They drew level only for Keelan Molloy to convert the winning score deep into injury time with a free from wide on the right.
This was a game that had pretty much everything a neutral would want in a game of football and the warning signs were there right from the first whistle that Dunloy weren’t there just to make up the numbers. Smith carrying the ball from the throw in through the St Galls defence. He found Nigel Elliott in a yard of space but his ferocious effort rattled the crossbar.
The first score of the game came in the fourth minute, Conal Cunning splitting the posts but St Galls began to take control in midfield with their ability to win breaking ball giving them the upper hand. Any Dunloy attacks were fleeting with St Galls dominating possession and with Niall Burns, Dubhaltach Wilson and Brendan Bradley pulling the strings, they went about building a substantial lead.
Three points from Burns, two from placed ball and scores from Conn Doherty and Bradley giving them a deserved four point lead by the 23rd minute. Bradley’s score in particular the highlight of the opening scores for the Milltown Row men.
Dunloy finally added to their score in the 25th minute, Seaan Elliott converting a free from 35 yards out with a swing of his right leg and the Cuchullains began to find some joy in the middle third. Further scores followed from Keelan Molloy (free) and Cunning’s second of the half followed after a period of patient play from the visitors left just one between the sides.
St Galls had the final say of the half when Burns converted another free but it could have been better for the home side. Eoghan McCabe looked to have carved his way through the Dunloy defence only for Ryan McGarry taking him down before he could pull the trigger for goal.
With the wind at their back and having done the most of the attacking play in the half, St Galls were well worthy of their two point lead. That two point lead soon became three soon after the restart with Bradley firing over from an acute angle.
It sparked a remarkable period of play however that saw three goals scored in the space of two minutes. The first came from a Karl Fitzpatrick penalty when Eoin O’Neill was felled by Eoghan McCurdy to bring the sides level. Fitzpatrick sent Louis McCormick the wrong way with a cool penalty. Winning the resulting kick out, Coby Cunning found Fitzpatrick and he looked to have the half yard needed but passed to Nigel Elliott and he fired home from close range to give Louis McCormick no chance in the St Galls goals.
The goal rush finished when St Galls broke at the other end of the pitch. McCabe at the heart of the move and passed to Ryan Irvine, the St Galls midfielder had a deft touch to deflect the ball past Sean Doherty in the Dunloy goals.
The game was played at a frenetic pace but it was the home side who began to find some patience among the mayhem. Bradley giving his side the lead once more in the 41st minute after a concerted period of St Galls pressure.
The Dunloy response came from a Keelan Molloy free and a gargantuan point from Seaan Elliott. Judging the elements to perfection and with a swing of his right foot, Elliott had the Dunloy support purring.
The home sides second goal came in the 49th minute and had the Dunloy management team fuming. They had just made a substitute with Niall Fallon coming on for Conn Doherty but the Dunloy defence never realised and followed Doherty to the side line and created space in the heart of their defence. St Gall’s took advantage and when the ball fell to Burns on the right hand side, he drilled to the bottom corner of the Dunloy net to give his side a two point lead.
The Dunloy response was the winning of the game however. A brace of scores from Seaan Elliott (one free) and Coby Cunning (one free) gave them a two point lead with the time running out. Dunloy continued to push for scores and when Eoin O’Neill raced through on goal in the last minute of the hour, he had the game at his mercy. McCormick did enough to put ‘Sammy’ off his stride however and the Dunloy man fired wide.
St Galls went through the gears and again began to put the Dunloy defence under pressure. A free from Burns left the minimum between the sides and from the next attack they found Wilson in space with the St Galls man electing to hand pass the ball over the bar.
With the game going into the third minute of injury time Dunloy beat the St Galls full press and Keelan Molloy was making his way to the scoring area. He was felled by Tiarnan Keenan with the St Galls man given a black card for his efforts. Molloy dusted himself down to convert the free and give his side a famous victory.
The result means the Milltown Row side are out of the 2023 championship while Dunloy will host Creggan in two weeks’ time to see who tops the group.
TEAMS
St Galls: Louis McCormick; Cormac Flannery, Tiarnan Keenan, Eoghan McCurdy; Conor Ryan, Conall McGirr, Conaill Murray; Ryan Irvine, Tommy Bunting; Niall Burns, Brendan Bradley, Dubhaltach Wilson; Callum Walsh, Conn Doherty, Eoghan McCabe
Scorers: N Burns 1-5 (4 fs); B Bradley 0-3; R Irvine 1-00; D Wilson 0-1; C Doherty 0-1
Dunloy: Sean Doherty; Oran Quinn, Eoin McFerran, Conor Kinsella; Chrissy McMahon, Ryan McGarry, Seaan Elliott; Ciaran McQuillan, Deaglan Smith; Nigel Elliott, Conal Cunning, Tom McFerran; Karl Fitzpatrick, Keelan Molloy, Eoin O’Neill
Scorers: S Elliott 0-4 (2 fs); C Cunning 0-4 (1f); K Molloy 0-3 (2fs); N Elliott 1-00; K Fitzpatrick 1-00 (pen)
Referee: Ray Matthews (Rossa)
