SFC semi-final: O'Mahony's down Dreadnots
September 21, 2015
Sean O'Mahonys Conor Finnegan
Sean O'Mahonys 1-12
Dreadnots 1-8
Sean O'Mahonys qualified for their first ever Senior Championship Final when they turned in another impressive display to see off Dreadnots at Haggardstown on Saturday night.
The Dundalk side produced a brilliant first half display to break the spirit of their opponents and set up a meeting with St Patricks in the decider.
On the evidence of this display, the O'Mahonys will certainly fancy themselves to add the Joe Ward Cup to the Louth and Leinster Intermediate titles they have collected in the last 12 months.
The Point Road side have been rapidly growing in confidence as the season has unfolded, and that self-belief was evident in the early exchanges as Conor Finnegan pointed two frees in the opening two minutes.
Stephen Fisher added a third on seven minutes and it got even better for his side when Finnegan and Gary Mulligan raised white flags to put their side 0-5 to no score ahead after 17 minutes.
The Dreadnots composed themselves and finally got off the mark after 22 minutes when Liam Shevlin fired over.
However, any suggestion that the score might put the O'Mahonys on the back foot was dispelled within a minute when Fisher claimed his second of the half, before Conor Crawley scored the first goal of the game to make it 1-6 to 0-1.
Finnegan continued his excellent scoring run as he kicked over two more before Liam Shevlin pulled a point back to reduce the gap to 1-8 to 0-2 at half time.
A shell-shocked Dreadnots did their best to raise their spirits at the start of the second half and points from James Califf and Peter Kirwan suggested they might be about to launch a comeback.
Once again the response to the danger came in the form of a quick-fire points from Finnegan and sub Ben McLaughlin to leave the score at 1-10 to 0-4.
As the game moved into the final quarter, the contest was all but over from a Dreadnots point of view, but the did continue to battle right to the end.
A couple of Califf frees were added to by a Liam Shevlin goal and with five minutes remaining the gap was back to 1-11 to 1-7.
However, the Seans were in no mood to see all their hard work undone and settled the issue with a Finnegan point before Califf fired over a late point to complete the scoring.
SEAN O'MAHONYS: Kevin Brennan; Michael Clarke, Ronan Byrne, Kurt Murphy; Keith McLaughlin, John O'Brien, Gary Mulligan 0-1; Conor Martin, Shane Brennan; Peter Nixon, Stephen Fisher 0-2, Conor Finnegan 0-8 (5f); Stephen Kilcoyne, Conor Crawley 1-0, Johnny Connolly. Subs: Ben McLaughlin 0-1 for J Connolly, Pat O'Brien for M Clarke.
DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham; Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath, Barry Faulkner; Anthony Williams, Cian McEvoy, Derek Shevlin; James Califf 0-5, Richard Kirwan; Pat Lynch, Fergal McGuigan, Dermot Campbell; Peter Kirwan 0-1, Anthony Lynch, Liam Shevlin 1-2. Subs: Ciaran Campbell, Chris Mulroy.
