Dreadnots Cruise to Senior Semi Final

Anchor Tours Senior Football Championship
Quarter-Final
From Haggardstown

Referee: David Fedigan (Hunterstown Rovers)

Dreadnots : 2-16
Cooley Kickhams : 0-9

Dreadnots are the first team to reach the 2025 Anchor Tours Senior Football Championship Semi Final after a convincing 13 point win over Cooley Kickhams on Saturday evening in Haggardstown.

The sides traded scores for the opening period of the game with Paul Brennan, Cian Connor & Enda O’Neill scoring for Cooley Kickhams and Craig Shevlin knocked over three point for the Dreadnots to leave the score at 0-3 apiece on 17 minutes. A minute later, James Califf’s two-pointer changed the game as it signalled the beginning of a totally dominant spell for the Clogher’ men. Sam Reilly and Leon Fox added points before the Dreadnots landed the game first major. In fact, both of their goals arose from very similar situations. Dermot Campbell who was exceptional in defence, brilliantly marshalled a turnover – the Dreadnots immediately turned it into a counter-attack, where the ball found it’s way to 40 yards man Sam Reilly, where it ended up with the youthful Donnacha Skinnader who tore off leaving Cooley for dust and unleashing a rocket low into Niall Brady’s goal. They were in the mood and in truth, they killed the game off moments later. This time, they made a turnover, hit Sam Reilly immediately just beyond the halfway line, he hit a beautifully weighted ball over his shoulder into the path of captain Conor Faulkner, the wingback then opened up and laid it off to Craig Shevlin – who dinked it into the Cooley net.

Half Time. Dreadnots 2-7 : 0-3 Cooley Kickhams.

The second half was a case of seeing off the job for the Dreadnots as they cleverly held the ball at times and defended extremely well. Shevlin and Connor traded early frees before Conor Clarke and Leon Fox hit over super individual scores. Indeed, Clarke and Conor Faulkner brought huge running power to the game and caused Cooley’ difficulty throughout. Cooley sub’ Jason Brady managed three second half points as he made a good impact. Ronan McCartan emptied his bench in the second half with one their biggest successes of the evening’s getting a valuable 45 minutes into Jay Hughes after a lenghtly spell on the sideline.

Full Time. Dreadnots 2-16 : 0-9 Cooley Kickhams

Player of the Match:

Dermot Campbell (Dreadnots): The county man was in typically brilliant form under the lights in Haggardstown. His reading of the game is second to none and he made superbly timed interceptions, time after time. A proper leader.

Notables:

Sam Reilly (Dreadnots): A new addition to the Clogher’ fold and has added nicely. Plays the 40’ role in an effective manner. Breaks hard for ball, has an eye for a pass and can clip a score. Played vital parts in some big scores for his side tonight.

Conor Faulkner (Dreadnots): The Dreadnots captain is a serious presence when he is at full flight. Added greatly to their attack while also putting in some hugely physical tackles.

Dreadnots Team:
Dylan Cassidy; Aaron Scullion, Dermot Campbell, Padraig Rath; Donnacha Skinnader (1-0), Anthony Williams, Conor Faulkner (0-1); Leon Fox (0-2), James Califf (0-3, 1f); Ciarán Finnegan, Sam Reilly (0-2), Conor Clarke (0-1); Jay Hughes, Paraic Smith, Craig Shevlin (1-6, 5f).
Subs:
Ciaran Cunningham for Jay Hughes (46 Mins), Darragh Shevlin for Donnacha Skinnader (50 Mins), Barry Faulkner for Padraig Rath (52 Mins), Callum Shevlin for Craig Shevlin (54 Mins), Owen Murphy (0-1) for Conor Faulkner (55 Mins).

Cooley Kickhams Team:
Niall Brady; Ronan McBride, Dean McGreehan, Ian Arnold; Gerry Malone, Darren Marks, Sean Hoey; Fearghal Malone, Paul Brennan (0-1); Fionn O’Reilly, Enda O’Neill (0-1), Gerard Hanlon; Cian Connor (0-3, 3f), Patrick Johnston, Michael Rafferty (0-1, 1f).
Subs:
Jason Brady (0-3) for Gerard Hanlon (Half Time), Richard Brennan for Fionn O’Reilly (Half Time), Gerard White for Richard Brennan (36 Mins), Niall Morgan for Paul Brennan (46 Mins).