Dromintee 0:9 v Maghery 0:8

Dromintee went into the final group game knowing that only a home victory and a win by Killeavy over Ballymacnab would secure their survival in the final group games in the seniorchampionship. The reward for getting a victory would ensure them a further game in the latter stages of the championshipand thus extend their championship season for a few more weeks.

Playing in lovely sunshine weather Dromintee started brightly and Jack Mc Ardle opened the scoring with a pointed free before Aaron Boyle tagged on a nice score to push Dromintee two ahead. In a rare raid into the Dromintee half, full back Ciaran Higgins from Maghery slotted over a fine score from distance to register Maghery’s first score. Two left footed frees from Ryan Gaskin allowed Dromintee establish a lead which was cancelled out by a free from Stevan Forker to close the gap to three at half time.

Maghery began the second half well and had two early scores before Cathal O’Neill slotted over a fine score following good interchange play. Niall Courtney followed up with a nice point on the run before the same player was unfortunate to receive a second yellow card following a tackle on the Maghery goalkeeper. There was twenty minutes still to play at this juncture and Dromintee lads would now have to fight for their championship lives for the remainder of the contest. The gameebbed and flowed with Dromintee trying to set up tight and not concede anything in defence while relying on breakaway attacks at the other end of the field. Maghery gradually closed the gap and Stevan Forker slotted over two further long range frees to level the game going into injury time. In a raid up the field Dromintee managed to open up the Maghery defence before Jack Mc Ardle bore down on goal before passing the ball across the square for Aidan Morgan (goalkeeper) to palm the ball to the Maghery net.  The large home support rejoiced but it was short lived as the umpires and referee ruled for a square ball. The drama continued as from the resultant kickout when a sideline kick was awarded to Dromintee and up stepped Jack Mc Ardle to land a monster kick from the sideline over the bar to the loud cheers of the Dromintee support. Referee Gary Marshall blew the final whistle shortly after thus ensuring Dromintee survival and Maghery’s elimination given that our neighbours Killeavy had beaten Ballymacnab in their final game up the road. This was the best performance of the group stages by the Dromintee outfit and a much needed boost for players and management and helped restore some much needed morale to the home camp for the games ahead.

Scorers: Dromintee Jack Mc Ardle 0:3 (2f); Ryan Gaskin 0:2 (2f); Cathal O’Neill , Niall Courtney & Aaron Boyle; Aidan Morgan 0:1 each.

Maghery Stevan Forker 0:3; Aidan Forker, Ciaran Higgins, Kevin Robinson; Stephen Cusack; Oisin Cushnahan 0:1 each