Cosmos crash out of Kilmessan Shield
Kilmessan Shield holders Navan Cosmos crashed out of the competition tonight at the MDL when they surrendered a two-goal interval advantage and conceded three second-half goals to a battling Duleek side.
The first-half was all one-way traffic in the direction of the Duleek goal and Cosmos strolled into that 2-0 half-time lead with Robbie Dillon in the 20th minute and Conor Walsh five minutes later hitting the target.
Cosmos had numerous other chances in that opening half and ran Duleek ragged - a revival looked the least likely development in the second-half.
However, that second-half was almost one-way traffic as Duleek turned the tables and got back into contention with a super Cormac Reid goal in the 53rd minute.
Three minutes later it was all square when Duleek centre-back Jamie Flaherty finished a Reid cross.
Cosmos tried valiantly to get a grip on the game, but they actually got very ragged and disjointed and paid the price six minutes from time when Colin Woods fired Duleek into the semi-finals.
Cosmos have three days to get this sorted as they have a big Premier game against Bellurgan on Friday night and they won't want to go into Christmas with two defeats in-a-row.
Navan Cosmos - Conor Gilsenan; Jack urray, Ben Newe, Robbie Dillon, Shaun Doyle, Alan Murphy, Donal Callan, Colin Lynch, Mark Leavy, Conor Walsh, Colm Carney. Subs - Cillien Corcoran for Callan and Ciaran Rogers for Carney both 70 mins, Conor McManus for Newe and Mark Mccabe for Leavy both 85m.
Duleek - Keith Carolan; Darren Mills, Colin Woods, Jamie Flaherty, Bryan Murphy, Robbie Daly, Sean Kennedy, Cormac Reid, Karl Dyas, Barry Kavanagh, Cormac McGroggan. Subs - Kyle Molloy for McGroggan 30 mins, Joey Martin for Dyas 59m, Adam Brady for Kavanagh 80m.
Referee - David Murphy (Meath Branch)