Dunsany's maiden voyage ends in victory

They made a lot harder work of it than it needed to be, but nonetheless Dunsany advanced to the Leinster Club JFC semi-final following a 2-10 to 1-7 victory over Wicklow champions Aughrim at Pairc Tailteann today.

Cleary, and by some margin, Dunsany were the better, classier team, but they failed to put Aughrim away and when the visitors banged in a brilliant goal from Alex Kavanagh in the 50th minute to make it 1-7 each a potential shock was on the cards.

However, Dunsany's response was emphatic and impressive.

Within 50 seconds of the concession of that goal James Cahill fired a brilliant goal to restore his side's three points cushion, while the outstanding performer capped his display with a hat-trick of points to put the issue beyond doubt.

Aughrim did have a late chance to close the deficit to three, but Kavanagh's spot kick down the middle was saved by Niall Flynn and then the Wicklow man rattled the crossbar from the rebound before Dan Stynes trumpted his final whistle.

That whistle got plenty of use during an entertaining contest that could have flowed a bit more with a more liberal referee.

The entertainment came in the form of some outstanding football from both sides, but Dunsany will be frustrated that they didn't assert their obvious authority on the scoreboard.

On a day when Eoin Harkin, who this week has returned to the Meath senior panel, was kept relatively quiet and who had an off-day from frees it was Cottrell who stood up to the mark with an exceptional display.

James Cahill was also central to much of the positive play from Dunsany. His joy at the final whistle was tempered by the fact the team he trains with during the week in Barcelona lost out to Laois side Kilcavan in the other quarter-final, and so he will not face his training colleagues in the semi-final in two weeks.

Dunsany played some excellent, sweeping, attacking football, but after 20 minutes they only had two Harkin frees to show for their efforts.

After Harkin had pointed those frees in the second and fifth minutes Harry Cahill got in for a goal chance, but his effort was blocked by Pierce Lawlor and the subsequent '45' was dropped short.

Aughrim stayed in the game and opened their account in the 16th minute with a superb point from Conor Phelan and 90 seconds later he tied the scored with a free from 45 metres.

Luke Horan's poor pass to pick out Harry Cahill saw another goal chance squandered for Dunsany, but three minutes later Cottrell restored his sides lead with an excellent score after fetching a brilliant mark and linking up with Luke Horan.

Luke Horan then stretched Dunsany's lead to 0-4 to 0-2, but Kavanagh exploited plenty of space in the attack for Aughrim to narrow the deficit to the minimum by the 22nd minute.

The lively contest turned firmly in Dunsany's favour when Cian O'Sullivan was nudged in the back just as he took aim for a goal and from the resultant penalty Cottrell made no mistake to make it 1-4 to 0-3 at half-time.

A minute after the restart Cottrell was denied a second goal by a magnificent save by Robert Lambert, but the referee spotted a foul in the resulting commotion and Harkin tapped over the free.

Phelan (free) and Joe McGuckian closed the gap to 0-5 to 1-5 by the 36th minute and by the end of the third quarter that deficit was down to one as Phelan landed another free and Kian Keogh fired over a loose ball from close range to make it 0-7 to 1-5.

Relieved that that loose ball didn't end up in their net Dunsany kicked on with Mark Horan settling them with a fine score.

Kris Gorman had his goalbound effort brilliantly tipped over the bar by Lambert as Dunsany edged three ahead.

However, the Meath champions were pegged back by Kavanagh's goal and it took that score to wake them from their sleepwalk and ensure they got over the line.

Dunsany - Niall Flynn; Alexander Smyth, Cathal Burke, Gavin Byrne; Cian O'Sullivan, Harry Cahill, Declan Smyth; Shane Brennan, James Cahill (1-0); Mark Horan (0-1), Eoin Harkin (0-3 frees), Pauric Burke; Luke Horan (0-1), Jack Cottrell (1-4 1-0 penalty), Lorcan Byrne. Subs - Alex Brady for Brennan, Kris Gorman (0-1) for L Byrne, Cathal Murphy for L Horan all 42m, David

Aughrim - Robert Lambert; Shane McGuckian, Ian Clancy, Finn Byrne; Kian Keogh (0-1), Oision Keegan, Jimmy Woolmington; Sean Campbell, Pierce Lawlor; Dean Newsome, Conor Phelan (0-4 three frees), Patrick Leccardi; Conaill O'Brien, Alex Kavanagh (1-1), Joe McGuckian (0-1). Sub - Diarmuid Whelan for Woolmington 55m.

Referee - Dan Stynes (Dublin).