Duleek Bellewstown 1-13
Simonstown 2-8

Duleek Bellewstown came to Simonstown on Saturday night determined to continue the upward trend and away from the relegation zone and continue their winning ways. They succeeded on all fronts and came away with their second win in 6 days having secured both league points with a well deserved and merited 2 point victory against Simonstown.

Playing into the town goals Duleek Bellewstown opened well but could not gain anything on their first couple of attacks and Simonstown responded with a point on their first attack. Then Con McGinley continued his fine free taking form of the last few weeks by opening the away side's account with a pointed free on three minutes following a foul on Anthony Burke. Despite winning breaking ball around the middle they found scores hard to come by.

On 10 minutes John Food pointed after good work from Mark Collins and James Murphy after Murphy foiled a promising Simonstown attack and Mick Dowling added another a minute later again after another run from Collins. Simonstown responded direct from the Kickout when Padraig McKeever pointed after picking up a loose ball from the kick out.

Anthony Dowling then made a crucial point blank save from McKeever after McKkeever broke through following a turnover in attack. On 20 minutes Kevin McCann broke another Simonstown attack laid it to Mark Collins who found McGinley about 30 yards out to the left of goal and he pointed and he repeated it again after another minute when Mick Dowling knocked a kick out to Stephen McArdle who found McGinley on the right wing with a raking pas and from the 40 yards out of the left he split the posts to put 3 points between the sides.

There then followed a double goal scoring burst. First John Flood broke up a Simonstown move around the half way line and found Anthony Burke on the left wing. Burke spotted Mark Collins racing through the centre and found him on the 45 with a nice over the top pass. Collins drove down the centre and from 21 yards drove an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net to extend the lead to six. But as is usual in these events the opposition responded in kind. Straight from the kick out they drove down through the heart of the defense and the ball was buried low to the left corner of the away team's net and the deficit was back to three.

Cianan Byrne and McGinley got the gap back to 5 by the half time break when firstly Byrne was found by Anthony Burke after another Simonstown attack was broken by the Duleek Bellewstown half back line and despite having his first effort blocked Byrne was able to latch on to the rebound and slot over from 20 yards. Another interception of a Simonstown pass by John McDonnell saw Casey Dunne receive the pass and lay off to Con McGinley to score from 30 yards. Half Time Duleek Bellewstown 1-7 Simonstown 1-2

Mark Collins departed the game at the interval and was replaced by Eanna Byrne. Simonstown opened the second half in determined fashion. Within a minute they struck the intersection of crossbar and goal post and from the resultant scramble Andrew Kearney opened the second half scoring for them. From the resulting kick out Simonstown's Sean Tobin broke the Duleek Bellewstown cover and drove goalwards and shot for the inevitable goal but Anthony Dowling somehow managed to get his hands to it and the ball was eventually cleared up field.

Kieran Collins opened the away team's second half scoring on 34 minutes with a fine point after Cianan Byrne found him following a mazy run. Despite winning breaking ball and stopping the home team's attacks around the middle third the Duleek Bellewstown's forwards did not have their radar working and kicked 5 wides and dropped other shots short in this opening 10 minutes of the half. Simonstown showed how to score when they pointed on 11 minutes in only the third attack of the half and this seemed to awaken the squad. Firstly Casey Dunne disposed his man, laid it to David Moore who drove towards the goal and was fouled and John Flood pointed the resultant free. Then another turnover by Burke led to an outfield foul on Podge Howard and from his quick thinking he found Burke running free on the 21 and he pointed.

Simonstown responded almost immediately with a point from Sean Tobin to bring the gap to the to 5 points at the end of the third quarter. A foul for a pick up off the ground by the home defense saw John Flood extend the lead again and this was followed almost immediately by an Andrew Kearney score for the home team. Simonstown were now pushing to get back into the game and Kearney reduced it to 4 with another point on 20 minutes. From the kick out Dowling found Casey Dunned who placed Cianan Byrne and he found Burke who pointed his second score of the night.
Then Anthony Dowling produced his third goal saving save of the night when thwarting the next Simonstown attack. And from the kick out the ball was worked to Robin Clarke who found John Flood and the lead was back to 6 with 5 minutes to go.

However Simonstown were not finished, Another point by Kearney reduced the deficit yet again and when a high ball from the next attack was flicked to the net to reduce the difference to two with three minutes remaining ,the pressure was on the away defense for the remainder of the game. However good work by Robin Clarke, Podge Howard ensured that the two league points were not relinquished.

Overall Duleek Bellewstown were well worthy of their victory but on another night Simonstown could have sneaked it had any one of their other goal opportunities been taken. In saying that Anthony Dowling did produce three excellent saves. Elsewhere in defense John McDonnell managed a good few interceptions and Robin Clarke worked tirelessly. Casy Dunne And Mick Dowling provided a solid platform in the middle while up front McGinley continued to lead from the front with another good point taking performance. He was well supported by John Flood and Anthony Burke.

Duleek Bellewstown - A Dowling, J Murphy, K McCann, J McDonnell, R Clarke, D Moore, S McArdle, M Dowling (0-1), C Dunne, J Flood (0-4) M Collins (1-0), C Byrne (0-1), A Burke(0-2), C MGinley (0-4f), K Collins (0-1). Subs - E Byrne for M Collins, S Townley for J Murphy, P Howard for K Collins, J Murphy for K Collins​. Tweet

Most Read Stories