Lucozade Sport Armagh Intermediate Football Championship

Round 1 – Middetown Eoghan Rua  v. Keady Michael Dwyers

Middletown : 0.09 – Keady : 1.09

Keady travelled to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh to contest this highly anticipated game against local rivals Middletown in the first round of the Intermediate Championship.  A previous tie between these two sides just a few weeks back ended in a last minute victory for Middletown and this match was always going to be just as tight and it was the same three-point margin that separated the teams this time around but with Keady on the winning side.  Both sides served up the expected highly physical encounter and the game was characterised by a lack of fluency in the movement of  play but in the end the Dwyers’ superior strength and mobility proved crucial as a number of Keady’s scores came through smart passing and quick interplay.

The game began with urgency from both sides trying to gain a foothold in the game and it was Middletown who took the early advantage as two quickfire points left them in front with just three minutes gone. In fact it was not until the eighth minute that Keady put their first point on the scoreboard as good work from Paul Gollogly found Kevin O’Neill in space who was able to pick out Chrissy Woods and Woods slotted the ball over the bar to reduce the deficit. As Keady struggled to find the equalising point both teams exchanged a number of wides and it was the fifteenth minute before the Dwyers got back on level terms as the impressive Paul McCormack laid the ball off to Ryan McGale who fired over his first score of the game. The teams then exchanged points as a goalbound shot was tipped over the bar for a point by Keady ‘keeper Adam Ashforth before it was cancelled out by a point from a Mark Hughes free. With just over five minutes remaining of the first half the Dwyers took the lead for the first time as Chrissy Woods finished off a swift team movement before another score from Middletown levelled matters once more. Despite this setback the Dwyers were starting to move more fluently in attack and a Ryan McGale converted free was followed by a fantastic score from Woods as the ball was won in the half forward line by McCormack who found Woods with no marker and his speculative effort creeped inside the post to give Keady a two point lead with minutes remaining in the first half.  However, the scoring in the first half was not finished and a converted ’45 from Middletown left just a point between the sides going in to half time.

The second half started in the same vein as the first half ended with Keady the more dominant team and within minutes Keady doubled their advantage as Chrissy Woods played a 1-2 with half time replacement Eugene McDonnell, allowing Woods to bring the ball into the Middletown box before calmly slotting it over the bar. Almost immediately after this the Dwyers extended their advantage to three points as Ryan Comiskey hit a fine score from the left after Ryan McGale had played him in with an exquisite lobbed pass. With ten minutes gone Keady edged further in front as Paul Murray was upended around the ’45 line and Mark Hughes again proved that he doesn’t miss from that distance as he converted the resulting free. Keady were looking good for their lead at this stage as they restricted their opponents to few chances, however this was the Dwyers’ last score for over ten minutes as Middletown hit four unanswered points in a spell of dominance. Two scores from play and a converted sideline ball brought Middletown to within a point of Keady with ten minutes remaining and set up a tense finale with an equalising point at the second time of asking as their first attempt rebounded off the post and the ball was worked to a Middletown attacker who was able to fire the ball over the bar to level matters. With Middletown having more or less controlled the game for around ten minutes it looked like this game was going to have a tight finish but the Keady nerves were somewhat settled as a sweeping attack started by Paul Gollogly and Paul Murray ended with Ryan Comiskey receiving the ball from McCormack and Comiskey showed remarkable composure to beat the ‘keeper at his near post to put three points between the sides. This was to be the last score of the game as both teams cancelled each other out for the remainder of the game and the Keady defence was equal to everything thrown at them, leaving Keady with a three point win and a place in the next round of the Intermediate Championship.

This was an enthralling game of football and the losing team were always going to feel hard done by as Keady were made to work hard for this victory against last year’s Junior Championship winners and a team that had beaten the Dwyer’s in their last fixture. This victory clearly meant a lot to the Dwyer’s players and management as a lot of effort went into the preparation for this game and a win in such a tough match will stand Keady in good stead in the next round of the Championship and the remainder of the league campaign.

Team: A.Ashworth, C. Courtney, S.Murray, R.Mullen (D.Boylan), B.Toal, P.Gollogly, P.McCormack, K.Rafferty, C.Nugent, R.Comiskey, P.Murray, K.O’Neill (E.McDonnell), R.McGale, C.Woods, M.Hughes (B.Hughes). Subs Not Used: R.Smith, G.Enright, P.Kirk, P.Smyth, D.O’Hea, B.Comiskey, R.Toal, C.Hughes, M.Toner, B.Scully, G.Toal, J.Corvan, J.Burke, A.Mone, J.King
Scorers: C.Woods (0.04), R.Comiskey (1.01), M.Hughes (0.02), R.McGale (0.02)