Reserve Football Shield semi-final
Dunloy 2-13 Ardoyne 2-8
This Reserve Football Shield semi-final saw two evenly matched teams battle against each other in the fight for a place in the final at Pearse Park, Dunloy. The game started with an ebb and flow pattern with both sides looking for a weakness in each other’s defence. Eamon Higney eventually opened the scoring for Ardoyne with a beautiful point from a very difficult angle. Dunloy responded quickly as they asserted pressure on the visitors’ defence and Barry Scott slotted over a 30 yard point. Ardoyne were lucky not to go further behind as loose passing in defence saw Michael Smith hit the post for Dunloy.
The sides exhibited contrasting approaches as Ardoyne sprayed the ball across the pitch looking for an opening, while Dunloy opted for a more direct play and a series of long balls looking to penetrate the Ardoyne defence. Conor McDowell though proved to be on the top of his game for Ardoyne but Dunloy finished the first half strongly and their pressure began to take its toll and they moved into half-time leading of 1-5 to 0-4, the goal coming from top scorer Declan McGarry.
The second half began much like the first with both defences seeing plenty of action. Michael Smith broke the second half deadlock for Dunloy. At this stage it looked like Dunloy were going to take complete control as they moved into an eight point lead. However, Ardoyne responded through a brilliant flick from the ever threatening Ciaran McNeill to Brendan O’Neill who rifled to the back of Dunloy net to reduce the deficit to five points. Further attacks from an increasingly confident Dunloy saw them move into a 2-9 to 1-4 lead before the Ardoyne forward line began to find vulnerabilities in Dunloy defence. Barnes gave a precision pass the McNeill who raced through to fire the ball to the back of the net. Dunloy’s lead was reduced to two points, but the home team were determined to take the spoils from this game and they dominated an exciting conclusion as they slotted over a further three points to take the victory by five.
Dunloy 1. Chris Logan 2. Daniel Dixon 3. Séanna Martin Ryan 4. Oisin McErlane 5. Cathair McCloskey 6. Ciaran McQuillan 7. Barry Scott (0-1) 8. Eoghan McGrath (0-1) 9. Karl Fitzpatrick 10. Seanie McAleese (0-1) 11. Anthony Smith ((0-2) 12. Rory Smith 13. Barry McCloskey (0-2) 14. Michael Smith (0-5) 15. Declan McGarry (2-1) 16. DJ McKendry 17. Ryan McFarlane 18. Christopher McMahon
Ardoyne 1. Daniel Wilson 2. Eamon Higney (0-1) 3. Mick McAuley 4. Oisin McCloskey 5. Brendan Mailey 6. Conor McDowell 7. Oisin Hickey 8. Shane McBride (0-1) 9. Sean Rooney 10. Brendan O’Neill (1-5) 11. Ciaran McNeill (1-0) 12. Dan Moore (0-1) 13. Conor Magee 14. Conor Carter 15. Connor Barnes 16 Conor Meeking 17. Antony McKenna 18. Kealan McCallan 19. Ryan McGranaghan 20. Odhran Mullan 21. Diarmuid Martin 22. Cormac Curran
