DREADNOTS 1-13
COOLEY KICKHAMS 1-9

Dreadnots booked their place in the Senior Championship semi-final when they overturned an interval deficit to see off the challenge of Cooley Kickhams at Haggardstown on Saturday night.

Going into the game, tradition would have pointed to a Cooley win but in the end the current league standings proved a more accurate indicator as the Clogherhead men turned in an impressive second half display.

However, it was Cooley who started in impressive fashion as frees from Conor Raffertry and Brian White was followed by a first from play through Aoghain McGuinness after 12 minutes.

The Dreadnots finally got off the mark through Ronan Fitzpatrick and further points followed from Peter Kirwan and Barry Faulkner to tie the game at three points apiece on 20 minutes.

Sean Donnelly and Kirwan then traded scores before a Patrick Sheelan point edged Cooley ahead on 24 minutes.

It looked as if the peninsula side had made a decisive move in first half injury time when they won a penalty allowing Conor Rafferty to fire to the net and give his side a healthy 1-5 to 0-4 lead at the break.

Crucially the Dreadnots made a strong start to the second half and early points from James Califf and Pepe Smith (2) reduced the gap to a single point after 34 minutes.

Califf added another from a free soon after, but Cooley responded by regaining the lead at 1-8 to 0-8 thanks to a Rafferty free on 39 minutes.

The game was very much in the melting pot at that stage but it was Dreadnots who grabbed the initiative when Liam Shevlin hit the net on 42 minutes and soon after he added a point to put his team 1-9 to 1-6 to the good.

The Clogherhead men continued to build on some good possession and Califf was on target on 48 minutes to extend the gap.

Cooley were struggling to find inspiration at that stage but two Brian White frees kept them in contention at 1-10 to 1-8. Pepe Smith and Michael Rafferty traded scores and as the game entered the final minute Cooley went in search of the scores to rescue the game.

However, it was the Dreadnots who held their nerve and closed the game out with the final two scores from Califf and Faulkner.

DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham;Brian Gargan, Derek Shevlin, Conor Murphy; Barry Faulkner 0-2, Cian McEvoy, Anthony Williams; James Calliff 0-4, Padraig Rath; Pat Lynch, Pepe Smith 0-3, David O'Brien; Ronan Fitzpatrick 0-1, Liam Shevlin 1-1, Peter Kirwan 0-2. Subs: Conor Campbell, Richard Kirwan.

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Keith White, Conor McGuinness, Richard Brennan; Shane Marks, David Reilly, Darren Marks; Brian Donnelly, Conor Rafferty 1-2; Aoghain McGuinness 0-1, Sean Donnelly 0-1, Alan Page; Brian White 0-3, Patrick Sheelan 0-1, Peter Thornton. Subs: Gerry Malone, Michael Kane, MJ Hanlon, Michael Rafferty 0-1, Jason Long.

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