Shane O’Neill’s 1-8 Corduff 1-9
Shane O’Neill’s suffered a one-point defeat to Monaghan champions Corduff, coming from eight down midway through the second half.
The Camlough men finished strong, outscoring the opposition 1-5 to 0-1 in the final quarter. It wasn’t enough to get something from the game and a poor first half showing let them down.
Shane’s opened the scoring, with a mark from talisman Paul O’Rourke, that was as good as it got in the first half. Corduff took over in terms of the scoring and hit five points to lead 5-1 at the break.
It was a scrappy, niggly opening half and Corduff played on the edge, often crossing the line. The use of the ‘dark arts’ denied Shane O’Neill’s any chance to really get into the game and find their groove.
The Monaghan champions picked up four yellow cards and two black cards inside the opening 30 minutes. Three of those yellows and both blacks were for fouls on Ciaran Mackin, who’s discipline was exemplary for the off the ball abuse he received.
His brother Connaire could have closed the score at the interval but saw his goal effort smash back off the post. Diarmaid Marren (2), Feargal Hanratty (2) and Jason Hand all pointed for the visitors to go four ahead at the break.
The sides traded scores with Eamon McCabe matching a third point from Marron before Clonduff pushed on again. Jordan McGarrell rattled the net, driving home a rebound shot after Conor McKeown denied his first effort.
Comeback
McGarrell swung over a point while free takers Ruairi O’Brien and Hanratty traded dead ball efforts. Shane O’Neill’s took over and scores from O’Brien and substitute Ronan Fitzpatrick narrowed the gap to six.
Fitzpatrick turned provided and played in O’Rourke who fired a low shot into the bottom corner of the Corduff net. Keith McEnaney fired over a huge score to settle the away side, but Eamon McCabe matched his point.
O’Brien nabbed another free as the Shane’s tried their hearts out for a goal and bombarded the Corduff square. They couldn’t find that three-pointer they needed and had to settle for a punched point from David McCabe.
