O'Donnell Cup final: St Pat's secure final
November 24, 2014
ST PATRICKS 1-10
DREADNOTS 1-6
St Patricks completed the league and championship double when they claimed the Cardinal O'Donnell Cup thanks to victory over Dreadnots at Clan na Gael Park on Sunday afternoon.
While there were four points between the teams at the final whistle, in truth it was a much more comfortable win than the scoreline suggests, as the Pats completed the Division 1 campaign with 13 wins out of 13.
At half time the county champions were eight points to the good and although the Clogherhead men raised their game in the second period, a comeback never really looked on the cards.
The game began with Paddy Keenan opening the score but the Dreadnots got back on terms through Anthony Williams. However, that proved to be their only score for almost 30 minutes as the Lordship men took control.
Points from Eoin O'Connor and Danny O'Connor had the Pats 0-3 to 0-1 ahead on 19 minutes but it should have been much more as they missed a series of chances, including excellent goal chances for the afore mentioned duo.
However, they finally made their pressure count and on 25 minutes the impressive Danny O'Connor hit the net after being set up by Karl White. Aidan McCann, O'Connor and White pointed in the closing stages sent them in leading by 1-6 to 0-1.
White stretched the advantage to nine points early in the second half before the Dreadnots finally got into the game.
A James Califf free, followed by Liam Shevlin's goal on 41 minutes gave them some hope, but Karl White and Evan White pointed at the other end to leave the gap at 1-9 to 1-2.
The Dreadnots then fired over three unanswered points from Peter Kirwan, Pepe Smith and Califf left just four points between the teams. However, it never looked as if the Pats would lose their grip on the game and Danny O'Connor fired over a fine point to settle the issue despite a late free from Smith at the other end.
After the game, St Patrick's captain, Ray Finnegan, accepted the Cardinal O'Donnell and paid tribute to his late colleague, Eamon Carroll, who played an important part in the overall league success.
ST PATRICKS: Barry Corcoran; Kevin Toner, Darren O'Hanlon, Patrick Kirk; Eoghan Lafferty, Dessie Finnegan, Owen Zamboglou; Paddy Keenan 0-1, Colin 0-2, Goss; Aidan McCann 0-1, Karl White 0-3, Evan White 0-1; Danny O'Connor 1-3, Eoin O'Connor 0-1, Ray Finnegan. Sub: Ross Murphy for P Kirk.
DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham; Ryan Gargan, Padraig Rath, Brian Gargan; Derek Shevlin, Cian McEvoy, Barry Faulkner; Anthony Williams 0-1, James Califf 0-2; Pat Lynch, Pepe Smith 0-2, Liam Shevlin 1-0; Ronan Fitzpatrick, Peter Kirwan 0-1, Conor Campbell. Subs: David O'Brien for Conor Campbell, Cathal Lynch for J Califf.
