NH MAIRTIN 3-14

DREADNOTS 1-12

After being caught with a late sucker-punch in the drawn game, Nh Mairtin made no mistake at the second time of asking as they booked their place in the last four of the Senior Championship with an impressive win over Dreadnots at Drogheda on Sunday afternoon.

In what was a fine overall team performance, the introduction of JP Rooney proved decisive as he bagged two goals and a point to steer his side to a deserved victory.

The strong wind and occasion rain showers didn't help the flow of this game that was scrappy in nature, but few in the Monasterboice camp will be complaining after the took full advantage of a disappointing Dreadnots display.

The Clogherhead side played with the breeze in their backs in the first half and despite going behind to an early Conor Whelan point they responded through James Califf (3), Pepe Smith and Karl Monaghan to lead by 0-5 to 0-1 after 14 minutes.

However, they couldn't capitalise on that start as the Mairtins fought their way back into contention and with Fra McCullough, Brian Berrill and Sam Mulroy on target they trailed by just 0-8 to 0-7 at half time and at that stage were very much in the driving seat.

Despite conceding an early point to Califf, they pressed home that advantage in the third quarter and took the lead for the first time when Rooney blasted the ball home after great work by Wayne Campbell. His side also added five points during that spell to put the Jocks 1-12 to 0-9 in front.

Richard Kirwan gave his side hope when he tapped in after Craig Lynch had parried a Peter Kirwan effort, but almost immediately Rooney fired in another fine goal at the other end.

The effectively signalled the end of the road for the Dreadnots and the Mairtins saw the game out comfortably before Stephen Campbell scored a third goal right on the stroke of full-time to complete the victory.

NH MAIRTIN: Craig Lynch; Paul Berrill, Mick Fanning, Eoghan Callaghan 0-2; Padraig McDonagh 0-1, Brendan Reilly, Thomas Sullivan; Wayne Campbell, Gavin Mooney; Stephen Campbell, Sam Mulroy 0-1, Conor Whelan 0-2; Fra McCullough 0-3, Brian Berrill 0-2, Mark McCullough 0-1. Subs: JP Rooney 2-1 for C Whelan, Conor Healy 0-1 for G Mooney, Bryan McQuillan for P Berrill, Luke Harrington for M McCullough.

DREADNOTS: Kenneth Shevlin; Brian Gargan, Derek Shevlin, Barry Faulkner; Padraig Rath, Anthony Williams, Dermot Campbell; James Califf 0-6 (4f, 1 45), Liam Shevlin; Pat Lynch, Paraic Smith 0-5 (4f), David O'Brien; Karl Monaghan 0-1, Peter Kirwan, Cian McEvoy. Subs: Richard Kirwan 1-0 for K Monaghan, Anthony Lynch for D O'Brien.

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