Dungloe cruise to victory at home over St Naul's in round 4 clash

Injuries have been the underlying story for St Naul's all season, and it proved to be an issue again on Sunday afternoon as the Mountcharles men fell to a strong Dungloe team by 14 points. 

Dungloe deserved every bit of their win with players like Barry Curran and Dylan Sweeney staring for the home side against A Naul's team that suffered a double blow in the second half when Stephen Griffin was withdrawn through an injury. 

After a slow opening five minutes that saw Dungloe hold the majority of possession the home side eventually got on the scoreboard with Dylan Sweeney pointing over from a fisted effort after he was sent through by Dara Gallagher who ran in at a tight angle to send over.  

It got even better for the men in red minutes later when Barry Curran flouted a superb ball into Conor Greene who caught the ball on the edge of the square to drive into the back of the net.  

St Naul’s needed a response and once they settled, the scores started to come, with three attacks ending with three unanswered scores as Stephen Griffin and Gavin Mulreany shot over from two dead balls, while Joe Campbell sent the ball over the crossbar under serious pressure to put a point between the sides.  

Dungloe’s patient buildup was working perfectly well with Aaron Neily bypassing three men to kick over off his right to put two points between the teams.  

But as the half went on, Dungloe started to find their rhythm as the scores came more easily to them. They nearly had a second goal when Gallagher sent in another fine ball in on top of the St Naul’s square but Sweeney again opted for the point as he fisted over.  

The second goal did come however on the 17th minute when Dungloe won the opposition kickout, broke down the right wing which finished with Oisin Bonner catching the ball in the box and blasting it into the net as the green flag was raised to make it 2-3 to 0-3.  

Ryan Connors and Matthew Ward stretched Dungloe’s lead as the game approached half-time but Mulreany brought one back from a 50-metre free, his side’s first score in 16 minutes.  

Barry Curran looked for a third goal in one half for his side but Mulreany pulled off an astonishing save to keep his side in the contest.  

Two final points, one from each side, from Naul’s Martin Breslin and a free from Dungloe’s Bonner brought the half to a close with the home side leading 2-6 to 0-5 at the break.  

Karl Magee opened the scoring for Dungloe when he sent over from a ‘mark’ to make it an eight-point game but Mulreany replied with a third point, kicking a ‘45’ over against a strong wind.   

Dungloe were finding it far easier to break through St Naul’s defense with Sweeney nailing over his third point off his right foot on the 40th minute.  

The game would take a bit of a lull with neither team scoring between the 40th and the 50th minute until Aaron Ward sprinted the length of the pitch to kick over. And they nearly got a third goal moments later when Sweeney passed the ball inside to Bonner only to be denied by the crossbar.  

Barry Curran kicked two points over without reply after getting some nice passes through from his brother Mark to make it an 11-point game before Sweeney hit his fifth point of the afternoon while Ryan Connors kicked the final point of the game to make it a 14-point win.  

Scorers – Dungloe: Oisin Bonner 1-1, 1f; Dylan Sweeney 0-5; Conor Greene 1-0; Ryan Connors 1f, and Barry Curran 0-2 each; Aaron Neily, Matthew Ward, Aaron Ward and Karl Magee 0-1 each. St Naul’s: Gavin Mulreany 0-3, 2fs, 1 ‘45’; Stephen Griffin 1f, Joe Campbell and Martin Breslin 0-1 each.   

Dungloe: Danny Rodgers; Jason McBride, Aaron Ward, Mark Curran; Barry Curran, Conor O’Donnell, Karl Magee; Darren Curran, Ryan Connors; Dylan Sweeney, Dara Gallagher, Matthew Ward, Aaron Neily, Conor Greene, Oisin Bonner. Subs: Noel McBride for Greene (50 mins); Danny McGlynn for McBride (55 mins) Daniel Ward for Matthew Ward (60 mins); Odhran Gallagher for Neily (60 mins). 

St Naul’s: Gavin Mulreany; Oisin Mogan, John Relihan, Niall Prendeville; Martin Breslin, Daniel Gallagher, Ian Campbell; Stephen Griffin, Michael Coughlan; Joe Campbell, Shane Connelly, Barry Burke; Declan Duignan, Peadar Mogan, Jonathan O’Driscoll. Subs: Kian McCabe for Coughlan (38 mins); Michael Coughlan for Griffin (47 mins).  

Referee: Enda McFeely