Castledaly lose their crown as Garrycastle advance

Garrycastle exacted some revenge for last year's county final defeat at the hands of Castledaly as they overcame the county champions by a margin of three points at Moate last Sunday evening.In doing so they consolidated their position at the top of their group and qualified for another county semi-final.For Castledaly, however, Sunday's game was confirmation of a major come-down from the highs of 2008's championship win. With Maryland managing to draw with Mullingar Shamrocks at Cusack Park, it means that Castledaly's championship campaign is over whilst the Drumraney men now sneak into the quarter-finals.For a fixture that has provided some very entertaining fare over the last number of years, Sunday's instalment was rather subdued, save for a 45th minute scrap in which Karl Henson was lucky not to see red. And although Castledaly did their best to reel in their opponents in the second half, Garrycastle always looked comfortable, with the three-point victory perhaps a little flattering to the champions.It was, however, the champions who opened the evening's scoring with a Michael Duffy free after three minutes.Wing-forward Shane Mulvihill replied for Garrycastle on seven minutes before a James Duignan free on eleven, put the Athlone side into the lead for the first time. Dessie Dolan pushed his side further into the lead a minute later after Derek Heavin, given the task of marking Dessie, had lost possession in defence.But Garrycastle, despite dominating possession, were not showing it on the scoreboard. In fifteen minutes of play they had kicked five wides. They would register a further three before half-time.This allowed Castledaly, living on scraps thus far, to stay in touch with their opponents and a sharply-worked move involving MJ McLoughlin, Gordon Duffy and Paul Kelly on sixteen minutes saw Michael Duffy land his second of the day.But possession still belonged largely to Garrycastle and a floated pass from Alan Daly into James Dolan on twenty minutes saw the number ten turn and point. Dolan was then fouled two minutes later which allowed James Duignan to tap over a free.Two minutes after that, Garrycastle were somehow denied a goal after a crazy sequence of events. The opportunity arose when James Duignan sent Dessie Dolan through on goal. He unselfishly offloaded to Shane Mulvihill who, from just three or four yards, saw his shot blocked brilliantly by Castledaly 'keeper Justin Coughlan. The ball was then recovered by James Dolan who popped the ball to his captain Gary Dolan but the full-forward's shot, from roughly the same distance, hit the inside of the post and came across the face of the goal, before the Castledaly defence somehow managed to get it away to safety.On 27 minutes, Castledaly looked to have taken advantage of that let-off when MJ McLoughlin landed the first free of his eventual haul of six.But Garrycastle were to finish the half strongly with points from Shane Mulvihill and James Duignan giving them a four-point lead (0-7 to 0-3) to take into the second half. In reality, that lead could and should have been much more.An early second-half free from MJ McLoughlin brought the deficit down to just three but, two minutes later, Garrycastle would strike for the game's only and ultimately decisive goal.Some good work by Alan Daly saw the ball arrive to James Dolan and the half-forward made no mistake in volleying the ball past Coughlan to the corner of the net.The skilful Paul Kelly, reinstated to the starting line-up for this game, pulled one back with a left-footed strike on 35 minutes.An outstanding Seanie O'Donoghue effort off the outside of the left boot cancelled out Kelly's effort. This put six between the sides but, after five further minutes of play, Castledaly had sliced that lead in half after two frees from MJ and one from play from Niall Duffy. Castledaly were still in it.But, again, Garrycastle were able to pull away and points from Paul Dillon, with his first touch after coming on, and another from O'Donoghue stretched the lead to five with time running out quickly.Injury-time frees from McLoughlin cancelled out those last two points but Castledaly's efforts always looked like falling short.Shortly after the final whistle came the news that Maryland had drawn with fourteen-man Mullingar Shamrocks. This was both enough to see Garrycastle top the group and claim a semi-final spot, and eliminate Castledaly from the 2009 senior championship.Scorers - Garrycastle: James Dolan (1-1), James Duignan (0-3, 2f), Shane Mulvihill (0-2), Seanie O'Donoghue (0-2), Dessie Dolan (0-1), Paul Dillon (0-1).Castledaly: MJ McLoughlin (0-6, 6f), Michael Duffy (0-2, 1f), Niall Duffy (0-1), Paul Kelly (0-1).Garrycastle: Cathal Mullin, John Gaffney, Enda Mulvihill, Padraig Rattigan, Mark McCallon, Karl Henson, Doran Harte, Seanie O'Donoghue, Stephen O'Reilly, James Dolan, James Duignan, Shane Mulvihill, Alan Daly, Gary Dolan, Dessie Dolan. Subs: Aidan Browne for S. O'Reilly (42 mins), Paul Dillon for A. Daly (48 mins) Robbie Fox for D. Dolan (56 mins).Castledaly: Justin Coughlan, Michael Gavin, Russell Casey, Enda Kelly, Stephen Kavanagh, Derek Heavin, Niall O'Neill, Gordon Duffy, Niall Duffy, Tony Heavin, MJ McLoughlin, Paul Kelly, Michael Duffy, James Kelly, Brendan Kelly. SUBS: Tommy Warburton for N. O'Neill (30 mins), JP Casey for M. Duffy (46 mins), Liam Fitzpatrick for N. Duffy (52 mins), Alan Stone for E. Kelly (54 mins).Referee: Sean Sheridan (Tyrrellspass).