After losing two finals in recent years, Gaeil Colmcille came good at the third attempt to win the M Donnelly IHC title when withstanding a strong Dunderry rally in the final at wet and windy Pairc Tailteann on Saturday afternoon. Gaeil Colmcille 2-13 Dunderry 2-10 Backed by the elements Gaeil Colmcille laid the foundations for their first outright success in this grade since 1996 when outscoring Dunderry by 2-7 to 0-3 in the opening period. County minor Brendan Murray played a central role by scoring 1-6 over the hour and was well supported in the scoring stakes by Tom Shine who posted 1-3. The experienced player-manager landed two long range frees in the latter stages after a Kevin Dowd inspired rally saw Dunderry cut the gap to just two points, 2-9 to 2-11, with under five minutes left to play. With county senior player Michael Foley leading the rearguard action, Gaeil Colmcille prevented Dunderry from repeating their 'semi' escapological act that saw them eliminate Longwood. Foley intervened to prevent Damien Clarke goaling at the town end midway through the second half when eight points, 1-5 to 2-10, separated the sides. Within two minutes the deficit was halved. First Dowd pointed a long range free and when a similar effort was batted out by Gaeil Colmcille 'keeper Cormac Ferguson, Dunderry substitute Kevin Bruton netted. Points from Gorey and Dowd (free) raised hopes of Dunderry completing their recovery but those late scores from the winning manager to the shine off their rally. Nearly ten minutes passed before a flag was raised, a Stephen Reddy free, before Murray took centre stage with a trio of points and then netting his side's opening goal following good work by Colin Tormay. Murray turned provider for Shine to post the Kells-men's second goal 26 minutes in and the board read 2-6 to 0-2. The sides exchanged points before the break with Denis O'Neill and Gorey registering fine scores. Dunderry resumed with John Kelleher tailing Murray while Kevin Dowd went to full-forward for a spell before seeing out the game in the half-forward line. Gaeil Colmcille - C. Ferguson; P. Tormay, M. Foley, K. Reilly; B. Tormay, B. Smith, C. Keegan; D. O'Neill (0-2), L. Newman; T. Shine (1-3, 0-2 frees), R. Flanagan (0-1), C. Tormay; D. Tormay (0-1), B. Tormay (1-6), S. Reddy (0-1, free). Subs - G. McGovern for C. Tormay (half-time), C. Roche for D. Tormay (63 mins). Dunderry - M. Horan; D. Stephens, T. Doherty, Darren Callaghan; J. Kelleher, I. McCormack (0-2, 1 '65', 1 free), L. Mulligan; David Callaghan, E. Stephens; D. Clarke, P. Gorey (1-4), K. Dowd (0-3, frees); O. McCormack (0-1, free), B. Doherty , D. Geraghty. Subs - K. Bruton (1-0) for Geraghty (28 mins), M. Brogan for O. McCormack (46 mins). Referee - M. Bartley (Trim). Tweet

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