St Malachy's GAC Castledawson

August 05, 2014
Senior Football: The seniors travelled the short distance to Ballymaguigan on Thursday past July 31st to play Ogra Colmcille in a first round fixture of the 2014 Intermediate championship and what a good game of open football this turned out to be for the supporters. Castledawson took the field as favourites based on the results of previous encounters and although they came through in the end and justified the tag they were made to work hard to win through.

Ogra got off to the better start and had three points on the board before Castledawson responded with five on the trot and when Aidy Bradley burst forward from the defence and fired one to the roof of the net it seemed the pundits had got it right on the night. As half time approached however and the gap having grown to eight with some excellent long range scores from both teams, Ciaran Lavery and Niall Keenan clashed going into a tackle, Ogra on the alert for any slip ups took the opportunity of the loose ball and their corner forward blasted past big Neill in goals leaving the score 1-13 to 1-08 at the whistle. Ciaran Lavery, possibly suffering from concussion, was replaced by Danny Devlin after the break.

Ogra, as in the first half, were quickly into their stride taking the first score and with fifteen minutes in as they knocked over the equaliser, 1-13 each and Castledawson having failed to raise a flag in that same period an upset looked very much on the cards. Both sets of supporters could now be heard as they encouraged their team to victory but when Niall McNichol put one over the bar to regain the lead and then took a short pass from Ruari Shivers to side step the full back and plant in the corner of the net victory for the 'Lily Whites' was in sight. Final score 2-19 to 1-14 a fair result after an exciting game, congratulations to both teams for this.

Outstanding displays on the night from Ciaran O'Kane in defence, Aidan McElhone in mid-field, Niall McNichol and Paddy Henry in the half-forward line and Martin Heaney at full forward; supporters man of the match tough one to call but Paddy Henry just shades it.

Team: Neil O'Kane, Ronan O'Kane, Ciaran O'Kane, Ciaran Lavery, Aidie Bradley , Niall Keenan, Mickey Hicks, Declan Lavery,Aidan McElhone, Niall McNicholl, Ruari Shivers, Paddy Henry, Conor Scullion, Martin Heaney & Aidan Keenan. Subs: Danny Devlin for Ciaran.

League: Back to action with an away game against Claudy provisionally fixed for Sunday next the 10th throw in 3:30pm, any changes will be updated on Web Site/Face Book during the week. A win and the pressure will be kept on the leaders who if they slip up could possibly open the door to the play-offs, a loss or draw and its intermediate football once again in 2015.

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