Senior footballers stay on winning streak

Sun, 13th March 2016

DUBLIN 1-15 DOWN 1-7

Dublin recovered from the concession of an early goal to outmanoeuvre hosts Down in Saturday night's NFL Division 1 action in Páirc Esler, Newry.

A hopeful Donal O'Hare point effort in the fifth minute dropped short and was fumbled over the line by Stephen Cluxton to present the Mourne men with the ideal start.

However, it was not long before the Dubs had reeled in their opponents with Cormac Costello's goal in the 18th minute putting his side on the road to a 1-8 to 1-3 interval advantage.

Down went 26 minutes without a score before O’Hare finally ended that spell with a converted free, but Costello’s 1-3 haul had the Dubs five to the good at the break.

The misery continued for Down in the second half as Dublin went on to record their fifth win from five starts while Down are rooted to the bottom of the league table with five loses.

Cormac Costello and Paul Flynn added points on the restart while Kevin McManamon had a goal effort saved as Dublin continued to carry by far the more potent attacking threat.

Down, however, did muster a fightback at the three-quarter mark and cut the lead to just four points.

But Dublin responded with points form Jonny Cooper, Dean Rock ('45') and Paddy Andrews ensuring Dublin maintained their 100 per cent league record.

Dublin sub Eric Lowndes went very close goaling when he cut through the Down defence but his low shot went just the wrong side of the post.

SCORERS - Dublin: C Costello 1-4 (0-4f), D Rock 0-3 (0-1f, 0-1 '45'), C Kilkenny, K McManamon, P Flynn 0-2 each, P Andrews, J Cooper 0-1 each. Down: D O'Hare 1-2 (0-2f), J Murphy 0-2, P Devlin, D O'Hanlon, M McKay 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Byrne, M Fitzsimons, J Small; J McCarthy, P McMahon, J Cooper; B Fenton, S Carthy; P Flynn, D Connolly, C Kilkenny; C Costello, K McManamon, D Rock. Subs: SB Carthy for Flynn (43, BC), P Andrews for McManamon (46), E Lowndes for S Carthy (46), D Bastick for Fenton, T Brady for Costello (56), D Daly for Cooper (66).

DOWN: M Cunningham; G Collins, G McGovern, D O'Hagan; J Flynn, A Carr, D O'Hanlon; P Turley, M McKay; C Maginn, R Mallon, K McKernan; C McGovern, D O'Hare, B O'Hagan. Subs: J Murphy for McKernan (6, BC), P Devlin for Mallon (47), L Howard for Carr (51), C Harrison for O'Hagan (51), H Brown for McKay (57).

REF: D O'Mahony (Tipperary).