Report James Reilly
Loughcrew Gaels/Gaeil Colmcille lost out by 3 points to a physically stronger Dunderry outfit in this entertaining Round 2 Under 21 A match played on a wet, windy Bank Holiday Monday morning in Moylagh.
For the second week running the Gaels suffered an early injury blow when they lost influential half forward Tom Shine after only 3 minutes. The combination side however had a dream start with two Sean Thornton goals in the first 8 minutes giving them a 2.0 to 0.2 lead. Oisin McDermott hit a super point from the right wing after a great run in the 13th minute to stretch the lead. Dunderry replied with a point in the 15th minute but a Daire Shine pointed free restored the Gaels 5-point advantage. Dunderry at this stage were beginning to assert themselves and from a free in the 18th minute they went for goal but the defence held firm and the ball was deflected over the bar for a point.
Dunderry then added three points to narrow the gap to 1 as half time approached. However, Daire Shine pointed from a long range free to give the home side a 2-point lead at the interval.
With no substitutes available a couple of positional switches were made by the Gaels at half time and they stretched their lead to 3 with a Daire Shine free in the 4th minute of the second half. Dunderry’s extra bit of experience and physicality then came to the fore and with 4 points in a row from the 6th to the 14th minute of the half they edged into a one-point lead.
On 19 minutes Daire Shine hit another free to level the match. However Dunderry responded immediately with a point to retake the lead and in the 22nd minute they got what would prove to be the decisive score when following a bit of a goalmouth scramble they goaled to go 4 points up. From the puck out the home side lost Tadhg Dardis who was dismissed for a second yellow card offence.
Despite the numerical disadvantage the hosts held Dunderry scoreless for the remainder of the match and got some reward with a point in the 26th minute from a long range free by Daire Shine. Despite the best efforts of the home side to get a goal in the final 5 minutes Dunderry held out to claim the victory.
Despite the result this was another fine team performance by the Gaels and was full of hard work, never say die attitude and determination in what were tough conditions for hurling.
Loughcrew Gaels/Gaeil Colmcille: T McKeon, L Finnegan, H Corcoran, T Dardis, C Rennicks, D Shine (0.5), S. Tunney, O McDermott (0.1), C O’Reilly, K Og Lynch, T Shine, R Earley, E Briody, S Thornton (2.0), C McGovern.
Subs: J Connell for T Shine.
Referee: Mark Reilly (Kilmessan)
