“Newtown Blues Overcome Sticky Dreadnots To Reach Senior Decider”

Anchor Tours Senior Football Championship Semi Final

From PPFS Darver

Newtown Blues 0-18

Dreadnots 0-16

Newtown Blues’ Andy McDonnell led the scoring as his side claimed a sweet county semi final win, beating old rivals Dreadnots to book a spot in the 2025 Anchor Tours SFC Final.

Newtown Blues opened the scoring within the 1^st minute as Andy McDonnell fired over a point from play.  By the 7th minute Blues had their edged three up as McDonnell landed a superb two pointer. Donnacha Skinnader opened the Dreadnots account on the 10^th minute and this was followed quickly by Ciaran Finnegan.

By the 20th minute the sides were at double scores as John Kermode’s men got into their flow. Andy McDonnell found another classy two pointer while points from Ryan Kelly, Ciaran Downey and the ever-influential Fergal Donohue. Anthony Williams and Jay Hughes were the Clogher scorers in this period.

Dreadnots needed a response and but they failed to turn their possession into points. Donnacha Skinnader hit a classy outside the boot effort on 24 minutes but the Blues fired right back at them. Emmett Carolan and McDonnell. One passage of play that the Clogher’ men could have tipped the balance was on the 28^th minute as a heavy shoulder from Alan Connor on Conor Clarke resulted in a penalty. Paraic Smith went high, down the middle but Johnny McDonnell got a strong hand to the size 5 which deflected over.

Sam Reilly knocked over a late first half point narrow the margin to a one score game.  Half Time – Newtown Blues 0-10 Dreadnots 0-7.

It took Newtown Blues less than thirty seconds of the second half to add to the scoreboard through Louth U20 Conor Mac Criosta. Fergal Donoghue and Conor Branigan found their range to stretch the lead out to six on the 35^th minute. It was now or never for the Dreadnots as they badly needed scores and they came from Ciaran Finnegan and Craig Shevlin but Conor Branigan fired right back which left the scoreboard at 0-14 0-9 to the Newfoundwell men on 40 minutes.

Clogher’s talisman Jay Hughes notched 0-2 in quick succession as he began to assert his usual influence on the game. Alan Connor and Craig Shevlin traded points as the Blues were intelligently limiting any Dreadnots influence, leaving 3 separating the side with 10 minutes to go.

The inspirtational Donnacha Skinnader was a driving force all evening and he generated a smart score for himself on the 25^th minute as the youngest member of the Clogher XV led the fight. However, as they tried to make in-roads there were gaps left which the Blues’ exploited with pace, particularly through Conor Branigan’s powerful runs. Ciaran Downey 0-2 and Jamie Kelly hit damaging scores which left the sides at 0-18 to 0-13 going into injury time. Jay Hughes hit three late points, including a stunning curling two-pointer. Dreadnots had a late goal chance as Hughes and Anthony Williams interlinked sharply but the tenacious Blues’ defence came clear with the ball.

Final Score – Newtown Blues 0-18 Dreadnots 0-16

Player of the Match:

Emmett Carolan (Newtown Blues)

As usual, Carolan led the Blues’ defence with his usual edge. Got forward to kick his own point but his general control over the game was most impressive. Very few forwards will get much change out of Carolan.

Notables:

Donnacha Skinnader (Dreadnots)

Drove at the Blues’ all game long. Hit 0-3, including a quality outside the boot effort. Plays in the Minor-B final next weekend which will show how remarkable his level of performance at adult level is.

Andy McDonnell (Newtown Blues)

Stormed into the game and was at his classy best for large spells. Hit 0-6 which included two powerful two-pointers.

Newtown Blues Team;

Johnny McDonnell; Daire Nally, Ciaran Cluskey-Kelly, Alan Connor (0-1); Fergal Donohue (0-2), Emmett Carolan (0-1), Conor MacCriosta (0-1); Brian Kermode, Ryan Kelly (0-1); Conor Branigan (0-2), Ciaran Downey (0-3, 2f), Andy McDonnell (0-6); Jamie Kelly (0-1), Conor Moore, Eoin McCoy.

Subs: Colm Judge for Conor Moore (38 Mins), Niall Devlin for Eoin McCoy (40 Mins), Aiden O’Brien for Brian Kermode (59 Mins).

Dreadnots Team;

Dylan Cassidy; Aaron Scullion, Dermot Campbell, Padraig Rath; Donnacha Skinnader (0-3), Anthony Williams (0-1), Conor Faulkner; Leon Fox, James Califf (0-1); Ciaran Finnegan (0-2), Sam Reilly, Conor Clarke; Jay Hughes (0-6, 3f), Paraic Smith (0-1, 1’pen’), Craig Shevlin (0-2).

Subs: Darragh Shevlin for Paraic Smith (38 Mins), Ciaran Cunningham for Sam Reilly (43 Mins), Owen Murphy for Ciaran Finnegan (53 Mins), Paraic Smith for Craig Shevlin (53 Mins).

Referee: Stephen Johnson (Glen Emmets)

Photo credit: Ciaran Culligan