DUNDALK GAELS 1-10
O RAGHALLAIGHS 1-4

Dundalk Gaels set up a meeting with St Marys in the Senior Championship quarter-final thanks to a six-point win over O Raghallaighs at The Grove on Saturday evening.

In what proved to be a disappointing encounter that rarely reached championship pace, it was the greater scoring power of the Dundalk men that proved decisive as they survived a brief second half rally from the O Raghallaighs.

Despite the fact that this was a must-win for both clubs, the sides were slow out of the blocks and the opening 11 minutes saw just one point and that came from Keith Hughes with just over a minute on the clock.

The Gaels finally got off the mark on 12 minutes through a Derek Crilly free and almost immediately, Errol Boyle rose highest to fist a David Maloney centre to the net for what proved to be the crucial score of the game.

The O Raghallaighs battled back to within one point 1-2 to 0-4 on 25 minutes, but points from David McComish and Sean Fee had the Gaels 1-4 to 0-4 ahead at the break.

Three points from Kevin McArdle, Gerard McSorley and Derek Crilly inside seven minutes seemingly put the Dundak men in charge to make it 1-7 to 0-4, but a defensive lapse allowed Keith Hughes to burst through for a well-taken goal to reduce the gap to three.

That goal lifted the O Raghallaighs and they drove forward against a Gaels defence that looked under increasing pressure, but they missed an opportunity to close the gap further when Ben Rogan missed a close-range free.

That miss seemed to drain the confidence from the Drogheda side and when Andrew Coleman sent over a point on 47 minutes, the players on both teams appeared to sense that the game was all but in the bag for the Gaels.

The O Raghallaighs did have a half chance of a goal with Craig McEnteggart fisting just wide before Crilly and Sean McCann pointed frees to stretch the gap. The O Raghallaighs almost scored a consolation goal in injury time but McEnteggart saw his 13m free blocked, while Andrew Rogan saw his effort from the rebound cleared.

DUNDALK GAELS: Stephen McLoughlin; Daire O'Callaghan, Jamie Faulkner, Eamonn Kenny; David McComish 0-1, Sean Fee 0-1(fr), Andrew Coleman 0-1; James Stewart, Sean McCann 0-1 (fr); David Maloney, Derek Crilly 0-4 (4fr), Peter McGinnity; Gerard McSorley 0-1, Errol Boyle 1-0, Kevin McArdle 0-1. Subs: Anthony McSorley for P McGinnity, David Moley for A McSorley, Eanna McArdle for K McArdle.

O RAGHALLAIGHS: Joe Flanagan; Stephen Murphy, Ciaran Brassil, Kevin McCormack; Stephen Smith, James Moonan, Alan Doyle; Andrew Rogan, Craig McEnteggart; Joe Rogan, Damien Doyle, Chris Smith 0-1; Ben Rogan 0-1 (fr), Damhan Finnegan, Keith Hughes 1-2. Subs: Graham Mulroy for D Finnegan, Cillian Curran for B Rogan, James Morgan for A Doyle. Tweet

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