Senior Football League – Division One
Glenravel 1-15 Dunloy 3-17
Wednesday 2 July
Brendan McTaggart reports from Fr McGinn Park, Glenravel
Dunloy finished off their league campaign with an eight point win over the Con Magees on Wednesday evening. Under the late evening sunshine and the midges, the Cuchullains laid the foundations for this victory in the opening quarter of the first half where they scored two goals in the space of five minutes. The visitors dominated and went into an eight point lead that Glenravel rarely looked like overcoming.
The statistics make for tidy reading for Dunloy by the end of the hour with 11 different scorers and just three points of their final tally coming from placed ball. They did reach double figures in wides but this was a contest that they controlled for long periods.
Sean McKay top scored for the home side with three frees in his tally of five points while Conleth O’Loan was always a threat on the inside forward line. He would finish with 1-2, his goal coming towards the end of the first half while Colla Ward and Niall Swann also caught the eye. While they attacked with precision, they couldn’t curtail the Dunloy attacking unit who could have added to their overall tally.
It was the Con Magees who opened the scoring with Eamon Ward pointing in the second minute. Dunloy were dictating the early proceedings but were being held out with some disciplined and well organised Glenravel defending.
Dunloy’s first score came in the eighth minute through Ryan McGarry. Seaan Elliott had the ball 40 yards from goal and waited on the run from McGarry coming through the middle. The Dunloy defender would burst through and finish superbly to give Shaun O’Boyle little chance of stopping his effort.
Points followed from the impressive Keelan Molloy and Eoin McFerran in quick succession. It could have been their second major before McFerran’s point but McGarry’s punched effort came back off the post.
The second Dunloy goal came in the 13th minute with Conor Kinsella showing the Glenravel defence a clean pair of heals before an expert finish put his side into an eight point lead.
The home side would hit back to back points through O’Loan and Conrad McIlhatton and began to warm to the task posed to them. Dunloy added scores from Molloy (2) and Seaan Elliott with a solitary free from McKay the response for the home side but the Con Magees would finish the half strongly.
Points from the marauding Colla Ward and McKay (free) brought Glenravel to within six points before they would find the back of the Dunloy net in the 26th minute. A long ball was sent in to the Dunloy defence and O’Loan judged the flight perfectly with the bounce wrong footing the Cuchullains defenders, the Glenravel man stole in behind and beat Peter McQuillan with a low finish with his right foot.
Dunloy and Karl Fitzpatrick rounded off the scoring with a free in the last minute of the half to leave the half time score 2-7 to 1-6 in the Cuchullains favour.
Half time probably came at the wrong time for the home side as they looked to have Dunloy on the back foot and the visitors made the most of the break. They outscored Glenravel three points to two in the opening five minutes of the second half with points coming from substitute Charlie Cunning, Kinsella and Molloy with McKay and O’Loan the Glenravel response.
The Cuchullains third goal came in the 38th minute and came at the end of a brilliant counter attack. Padraig McGilligan claimed a high ball in the middle of the park and recycled superbly despite under pressure. Elliott surged through the middle and had options either side, passing to McQuillan on his left. The Dunloy forward elected to pass to McGarry at the back post and he palmed the ball to the back of the net for his second major of the evening and put daylight between the sides once again.
Eamon Ward and Jack Martin swapped points as the sides went toe to toe. They shared four points equally, O’Neill and McKay (free) for the home side with Kevin McQuillan and Molloy for Dunloy before Glenravel scored three points in barely two minutes to cut the Dunloy lead to five with less than 10 minutes remaining. Scores coming from McKay and substute Daragh Donaghy and while O’Neill added his second of the night, he had half a chance for goal before blazing over the bar.
Substitute Callum Scullion and Molloy fired over either side of a Joe Martin point for Glenravel before the home side were reduced to 14 men. Ronan McCormick getting a black card for dragging Eoin McFerran as Dunloy looked to cut through the Glenravel defence once more.
The Cuchullains rounded off the scoring with points from Fitzpatrick (free) and Elliott in the time that remained to run out comfortable winners.
Both sides were missing plenty of regulars from the starting 15 and with both their status virtually secured before the ball was throw in, there wasn’t much to play for in this other than game time. Both sides now have a four week break before the championship starts in the first weekend of August.
TEAMS
DUNLOY: Peter McQuillan; Michael Trainor, Aaron Crawford, Cathair McCloskey; Conor Kinsella, James Scally, Ryan McGarry; Eoin McFerran, Padraig McGilligan; Jack Martin, Seaan Elliott, Chrissy McMahon; Keelan Molloy, Kevin McQuillan, Karl Fitzpatrick
Subs: Charlie Cunning for C McMahon (HT); Callum Scullion for J Martin (44); Sean Og Blaney for A Crawford (44)
Scorers: K Molloy 0-7 (1f); R McGarry (2-00); C Kinsella 1-1; S Elliott 0-2; K Fitzpatrick 0-2 (2fs); E McFerran 0-1; J Martin 0-1; K McQuillan 0-1; C Cunning 0-1; C Scullion 0-1
GLENRAVEL: Shaun O’Boyle; Conor Carey, Eoin McCusker, Conrad McIlhatton; Colla Ward, Niall Swann, Ronan McCormick; David Higgins, Rian Lennon; Joe Martin, Sean McKay, Eamon Ward; Conleth O’Loan, Aiden O’Donnell, Sean Og O’Neill
Subs: Daragh Donaghy for E McCusker (49); Joe Leech for C McIlhatton (59)
Scorers: S McKay 0-5 (3fs); C O’Loan 1-2; S Og O’Neill 0-2; E Ward 0-2; J Martin 0-1; C McIlhatton 0-1; C Ward 0-1; D Donaghy 0-1
Referee: Kevin Parke (Naomh Éanna)
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