Bru na Boinne march on to last four

Last year’s beaten finalists Tara were dumped out of this year’s Regional Championship by Niall Ronan’s Bru na Boinne on a bitterly cold this evening in Dunganny follow their 1-11 to 1-8 loss, writes Davy Rispin..

The St Patrick’s, Duleek/Bellewstown, St Vincent’s, St Mary’s and Eastern Gaels combination were good value for their victory too, dominating the middle third of the contest to give themselves a foothold which they threatened to but ultimately never relinquished.

Bru na Boinne were late coming out of the dressing room which may have had something to do with their slow start to proceedings. By the time Shane Landy registered their first score on the board after 12 minutes, Marty Mulhall had already notched two frees for Tara.

The Landy point proved a settler because four minutes later Sam Victory rifled in a magnificent goal. The St Mary’s attacker collected a pass from Paddy McGill, turned and instinctively fired past the helpless Niall Flynn. Paul Kelly responded with a fine point for Tara, but this would prove to be their final white flag of the half with Bru na Boinne reeling off four in succession thanks to a brace of frees from McGill and Flood along with two from the impressive Adam Tuite to open up a 1-5 to 0-3 half time advantage for Ronan’s charges.

The Bective, Dunsany, Blackhall Gaels, St Peter’s and Dunshaughlin representatives did come out fighting at the start of the second half, however. David Gallagher’s men hit three of the first four points of the half thanks to a couple of frees from substitute Luke Mitchell and a classy score from Con Smith. The sole riposte from Bru na Boinne came in the form of another Adam Tuite point.

The big moment came at the beginning of the fourth quarter with Robin Clarke handpassing directly back to his goalkeeper Evan Connor having received the kickout. Joseph Curran correctly awarded the free and with everyone convinced Mitchell would pop over the routine free, the Dunshaughlin forward took everyone including the Bru na Boinne defenders by surprise by thundering a rocket of a shot into the top corner of the net.

Having seen their lead evaporate to just a point (1-7 to 1-6), Paddy McGill curled over a much-needed score for his team. Declan Smyth replied in kind down the other hand with the momentum seemingly with last year’s beaten finalists. Credit Bru na Boinne though who struck two massive points in a row from the Duleek/Bellewstown pair of Jamie Crosby and John Flood.

Mitchell lashed over two minutes from time to narrow the gap down to two once more, but Crosby provided the insurance score in stoppage time to ease the Bru na Boinne nerves and eventually book their place in the semi-finals.

Bru na Boinne – Evan Connor (St Vincent’s); Oisin Miland (Duleek/Bellewstown), Davy Tallon (St Vincent’s), Adam Byrne (St Patrick’s); Sam O’Leary (Duleek/Bellewstown), Robin Clarke (Duleek/Bellewstown), Ryan Hand (St Vincent’s); Conor Harford (St Vincent’s), Jack Byrne (St Vincent’s); Paddy McGill (St Vincent’s 0-3 two frees), John Flood (Duleek/Bellewstown 0-2 one free), Shane Landy (St Patrick’s 0-1); Sam Victory (St Mary’s 1-0), Alan Bowden (Duleek/Bellewstown), Adam Tuite (St Vincent’s 0-3). Subs – Liam Sheridan (St Mary’s) for Byrne 47m, Jamie Crosby (Duleek/Bellewstown 0-2) for Landy 47m, Nigel Hand for Tuite 54m.

Tara - Niall Flynn (Dunsany); Pauric Burke (Dunsany), Matthew Cully (Bective), Jack Grant (Bective); Conor Harkin (Dunsany), Sean Ryan (St Peter’s Dunboyne), Ciaran McCarrick (Dunshaughlin); James Cahill (Dunsany), Eoin Harkin (Dunsany); Paul Kelly (Blackhall Gaels 0-1), Con Smith (Bective 0-1), Mark Dowdall (Bective); Cathal Murphy (Dunsany), Marty Mulhall (Bective 0-2 frees), Declan Smyth (Dunsany 0-1). Subs - Shane Whitty (Blackhall Gaels) for Dowdall, Neil Dowdall (Bective) for C Harkin both half-time, Luke Mitchell (Dunshaughlin 1-3, 1-2 frees) for Murphy 45m, Luke Jennings (Blackhall Gaels) for Kelly 50m, Mark O’Brien (Bective) for Mulhall 57m.

Referee - Joseph Curran (St Michael’s).