Daingean pull off strong second half comeback to seal victory over Gracefield

Daingean came away with a three point win over Gracefield in the Senior B Football Championship as they finished up winning by 2-14 to 3-7 at home to seal their first win of the season.

Tullamore Court Hotel Offaly Senior B Football Championship Round 3

Daingean 2-14 Gracefield 3-7

Two second half goals from Shane Marsden and Cian Reilly made sure that Daingean got their opening win of the championship season as they outscored their opponents 2-9 to 1-3 in the second half to complete the turnaround.

Gracefield will be disappointed they didn’t kick on from their positive opening 20-25 minutes as this result now leaves them on two points after three games.

Jack Walsh opened the scoring after three minutes, with Corey McEvoy kicking over a fantastic two pointer five minutes later, moments before Cathal Ryan ran through but his effort at goal was saved well by John Lawrence before Shane Marsden kicked their opening point after 12 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, Gracefield had the ball in the back of the net thanks to Michael Wilcox’s low driven kick into the bottom corner after he was fed in by Jamie Hanlon, but Daingean responded with menace as they kicked the next two scores from the boots of Sam Wright and Odhran Connolly.

Gracefield found the back of the net again in the 19th minute as Stephen Flanagan’s floating ball found the hands of Niall Smith and he made no mistake in finding the bottom left corner and making it 2-3 to 0-3 and leaving Daingean with work to do in the final 10 of the first half.

Odhran Connolly was doing his level best to keep his side in it with back to back scores to leave his personal tally at 0-3 and keeping his side within touching distance, but their opponents kept the scoreboard ticking as Dan Hanlon extended Gracefield’s lead back to five and giving them Daingean work to do with the wind in the second half as they trailed by 2-4 to 0-5.

Daingean came out the second half firing as Odhran Connolly kept up his good scoring traits with the opening score of the half, before Jamie Hayes kicked another point before Shane Marsden drew the game level with a 35th minute goal and turning the momentum of the game when Connolly added his fifth point of the game to leave his side in front for the very first time.

Both sides were beginning to kick poor wides and it was starting to affect them, until Daingean pulled further ahead as a kick out won by Sam Wright resulted in Cian Reilly being put through on goal and he made no mistake in burying his effort into the net to give Daingean a four point lead with just over 15 minutes left on the clock.

Gracefield’s first score of the half on 45 minutes by Dan Hanlon was quickly cancelled out by Jamie Hayes’ second score of the half, before Philip Hurley kicked a point to reduce it back to three once again.

Adam Bolger was having a strong performance at full back and soon produced a score of his own, with fellow full back Cathal McKnight soon making it a five point game and almost making certain of the result entering the final 10 minutes.

The introduction of Offaly forward Shane Tierney was making a difference as he fed Jamie Hayes for his third point of the half and left six between the sides approaching the end and almost certainly making sure of the result.

Hayes and Tierney added two further points before a fine individual goal by Stephen Flanagan brought it back for Gracefield but the result was never in doubt, as Daingean claimed a big win to kick start their season.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

ODHRAN CONNOLLY (DAINGEAN): Jamie Hayes had a strong second half display for his side as did Adam Bolger and Cathal McKnight in the full back line. Shane Tierney made a big impact off the bench, while Shane Marsden and Sam Wright also caused major issues. For Gracefield, it was the first half that notably their strongest players performed, with Corey McEvoy and Niall Smith the stand out performers while Michael Wilcox and Jack Walsh tried their best to register scores. Odhran Connolly was the danger man throughout as he finished with 0-5 and was super as getting space required to finish off his chances. He was unmarkable on the day.

THE SCORERS

Daingean: Odhran Connolly 0-5, Shane Marsden 1-1, Jamie Hayes (1free) 0-4, Cian Reilly 1-0, Sam Wright, Adam Bolger, Cathal McKnight and Shane Tierney 0-1 each.

Gracefield: Michael Wilcox, Niall Smith and Stephen Flanagan 1-0 each, Corey McEvoy (1 2pt), Dan Hanlon and Jack Walsh 0-2 each, Philip Hurley 0-1 .

THE TEAMS

Daingean: Conor Curley (C); Padraig Ferguson, Adam Bolger, Cathal McKnight; Finn McGuinness , Steven Joyce, Cathal Ryan; Sam Wright, David Walsh; Casey Evans, Jack Connolly, Jamie Hayes; Odhran Connolly, Cian Reilly, Shane Marsden. Subs– Aran Byrne for Walsh (37m), Shane Tierney for Evans (41m) Charlie Hayes for Connolly (49m), Cian Bracken Marsden (52m), Aaron Longworth for McKnight (55m).

Gracefield: John Lawrence; Gavin Smyth, Mark Ward, Patrick Hurley; Corey McEvoy, Niall Smith, Cian Murphy; Michael Wilcox, Philip Hurley (C); Jamie Hanlon, Stephen Flanagan, Jason Slattery; Dan Hanlon, Jack Walsh, Tom Walsh. Subs– Craig Weldon for Wilcox (36m), Darragh Lawrence for Walsh (47m), Jason Knight for Hanlon (52m).

REFEREE WATCH - (Chris Dwyer)

Chris Dwyer took charge of this game and while there were some strange calls like at the very end where a Cathal Ryan two pointer was first allowed then disallowed after he blew the whistle, and Daingean at one stage having 16 on the field, aside from that he did good and didn’t have a bearing on the final result.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

The first goal of the game by Shane Marsden was the turning point as it brought the game level before moments later Odhran Connolly kicked his side into the lead for the first time after 37 minutes and Daingean never looked back from there.

VENUE WATCH

Daingean hosted the game on Sunday afternoon and did a great job hosting. Plenty of stewards were on hand , no issues regarding parking, the pitch was in excellent condition and there was also a coffee shop there for supporters.

WHAT'S NEXT

Daingean take on Cappincur in round 4, while Gracefield host Clara.

STATISTICS

Wides: Daingean – 11 (6 in first half); Gracefield – 9 (6 in first half).

Yellow cards: Daingean - (1) Sam Wright Gracefield – (1) Gavin Smyth

Red cards: Daingean – (0) Gracefield– (0)

Black Cards: Daingean - (0) Gracefield - (0)