Dressed on top with only a vest,undershirt and hoodie under a beaming sun I nearly perished with the cold in Navan's Pairc Tailteann tonight. Whatever about the weather being bitter the pitch was in fine fettle and a strong wind blew towards the hospital end.
In the pre match banter two predictions were made by avid Dunderry supporters.
One Kane supporter opined that we were 5 points the better team and the winning margin should reflect this.A second die hard opined that Donal Smyth the referee would definitely not favour Dunderry.There is a belief in Dunderry this while back that Donal has not favoured us in either code and that today would be no different.
Dunderry Team.
Jennings
A.Newman Davy Mc Cormack C.O.Shea
C.Dempsey Finn Stephens S.Carty
A.Coogan C.Farrell
A.Waters S,Coogan D.Clarke
M.Garry L.Martyn B.Doherty
Seamus Harte and Paddy Kenneally, starters the last outing, were not available because of injury and as a consequence Sponge went back to full back from centre half and Finn from the edge of the square to centre back,positions many feel is the most beneficial for the team.
KIlmainham's huge player is Michael Newman who is an automatic on the Meath team and we figured he would be placed on Finn with the expectation he would take him to the cleaners.And Rose Mulligans nephews are no daws either,
The teams lined with Newman at 11 and Finn at 6 and We played into the face of a strong wind.We conceded a point to a 45 from the deadly accurate Newman in the first minute and then two more to frees from the same scorer.Already the Dunderry supporters were howling with frustration at the referee who seemed to award frees to KIlmainham for incidents which when they happened to Dunderry were not similarly awarded. But were settling reasonably well and making the odd foray into the teeth of the gale towards the pavilion end and possibly missed two scorable minors in the first quarter.Then Kilmainham scored a minor from play and with 4 on the register against us it was shit or get off the pot time.And off both the pot and our mark we got a minor,followed by another to leave it 0-4 to 0-2 against us,entering the last 10 minutes of the half.They scored two more minors from a free and a forty five to leave us in nail biting territory before we pulled one back .But they scored another minor from a free to leave the half time score 0-7 to 0-3 in their favour.The free count in the first half was 7 against Dunderry to 3 against Kilmainham.Of Kilmainmham's 7 points 1 came from play,2 came from 45's and four came from frees .Truth to tell some of the decisions against us were hard to decipher and to take and the Dunderry supporters were not happy campers.Of our three points, Lukie scored one from play and Denise's gasun score one from play and one from a free.
I felt the wind was worth 6 points and this combined with the fact that Finn had kept Newman scoreless from play and that Spongee and Swiss were playing with panache put us in with a great chance if we got a level battlefield in the second half.We were playing well in all positions and well able to compete in open play after a tentative opening ten minutes when some well intended passes went astray .Marty Garry foraged well back in this half to definite advantage it must be said and made an excellent contribution
Half time 0-7 to 0-3 against us.
The selectors made several positional switches at half time.Marty Garry and Simon switched positions .Swiss went midfield ,Andy to full forward and Lukie to wing forward.The switches worked.With the wind we rattled odd the first 7 scores of the half ,5 from play and two from frees from the laser acculturate Stephen Coogan who was as good as Newman on the fee taking department and and his master from open play.
It has to be said again that what were at least two blatant frees to Dunderry were not given in this half and the light was not that bad.And it now seems a kosher to surround a man in possession and drag him down and not get penalised for so doing.The Dunderry supporters were outraged ,to put it mildly and with only two points separating the teams in the last ten minutes the tension was unbearable
.Dunderry introduced John Paul, Liam Dempsey ( I am informed that it is from the Dempsey's he gets his moxy),Colm Harte and Shane Maguire for Lukie ,Andy ,Alan and Bob and all made their mark especially J.P.,whose first touch split the uprights for a great point.
Anyhow we lived dangerously scoring a further point from play to theirs from a free.to hold out victors by two points.
Scorned half scorers were Stephen Coogan 0-5(0-2 F.)
Andy 0-1
Baby Doc 0-1
J.P/ 0-1
and the free count was 11 against Dunderry to 8 against KIlmainham.
In case anybody would get the idea that Dunderry are a dirty team then they are totally wrong.This was a clean well contested game played out by two honest teams in a fully sporting manner as you would expect from two proud and decent Clubs and from decent and manly players.
Frees aside we were probably five points the better team and it a great source of pride that Finn kept Newman scoreless from play ,a feat that many inter county players have failed to do..He was well aided in this by the rest of the backs.led by the ballsy Davy Mac , who gave it their all.
The extra week has stood O Shea in good stead in his ball handling and Aaron is getting better and better.Simon and Conor .D.are oozing confidence and Kenning's kept us in the game at least twice with magnificent saves.His kick outs aren#t bad either.
Bomber had a good game in the middle and Andy and Swiss gave it their all ,Swiss in particular belying the advancing years.
Waters had a good first half but his marker (No.5 ) was probably the best KiIlmainham man on the pitch in the second half. Stephen Coogan does not miss a scorable chance either from a free or from play.Potentially a county man.Bob is using his bulk to advantage totally and had a good game even garnering some dubious frees from the referee and Lukie is a competitive and strong garsun learning his trade.He wins all the fifty balls and some of the forty sixty even,A good sign.
This was a good win for us in a match that I would guess that KIlmainham had targeted as a certain win for them.
Man of the match for me is Stephen Coogan by a whisker ,from Finn,Swiss ,Davy Mac and Jennings with the rest of the field closing rapidly,
This is a good management team by the way and are doing a fine job.Fair dues to the Legend who grasped the poisoned chalice when many others jibbed.
Let us not get carried away but the beat lives on.
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