Duleek / Bellewstown win Junior C title
Duleek / Bellewstown deservedly won the Junior C title at Páirc Tailteann today with a hard-earned 1-9 to 1-6 victory against a Blackhall Gaels side that finished with 13 men following two second-half red cards.
Some of the attempts at tackles in the second-half from Blackhall Gaels were of the unsavoury variety and had no place on the pitch, but then there was also a fairly crude effort from Duleek/Bellewstown in the opening half that earned only a yellow card and that ultimately set the standard for the hour.
Thomas Coyle gave Blackhall Gaels the lead from a sixth minute pointed free and Brian O'Connor increased the advantage soon after with a fine effort from play.
Duleek / Bellewstown were fortunate to keep 15 on the pitch when Daniel Martin escaped with that yellow card after he was late with what was a crude challenge.
The fluency of the game was disrupted by a number of injury-enforced stoppages, one of which saw Duleek/Bellewstown's Ciaran McGroggan sustain a blood injury that ended his involvement in the decider.
His replacement, Luke Heeney, had a major impact and his pace was a constant threat as Duleek / Bellewstown began to dictate the exchanges and established a 1-4 to 0-4 interval advantage.
Two points from Peter Collins and a fine effort by Heeney were countered by Andy Brady for Blackhall Gaels and had the teams tied at 0-3 each after 24 minutes.
Mark Ferris and Wayne Noone traded points subsequently as parity remained and then Heeney embarked on a solo raid and rifled the ball off the underside of the Blackhall crossbar with Padraig McGroggan finishing to the net close to the interval.
Coyle's early second-half pointed free got Blackhall motoring, but Duleek / Bellewstown countered through Heeney and Cormac McGroggan before Mark Ferris netted for Blackhall from a 43rd minute penalty that closed to deficit to the minimum (1-5 to 1-6).
Duleek / Bellewstown's Padraig McGroggan was stretchered-off with 12 minutes remaining and in separate incidents Blackhall lost John Fagan and Andy Brady to red cards.
Heeney kept picking off the poiints for the winners and added a brace with Paul Martin also splitting the posts while Ferris closed Blackhall's account on what was surely a forgettable day for both manager Liam Keane and the players.