2008 Intermediate Championship Relegation Play-off

Date: Sunday 28th September, 2008
Venue Louth Village
Time: 11.00am

Dundalk Young Irelands 2-09 Sean McDermotts 1-12

Sean McDermotts and Dundalk Young Irelands could not be divided after serving up an entertaining hours football in Louth Village on Sunday morning in the Intermediate Championship relegation play-off. An Irelanders point from Derek Maguire forced a further replay to determine who drops to the Junior Championship grade in 2009.

McDermotts were quickest out of the traps leading 1-03 to 0-01 at the end of the first quarter. Their goal was well taken by James Woods after a good pass from veteran Brendan McGahon. The Mountrush side continued to defy their earlier Championship form for the rest of the half with some slick passing and excellent point taking from Tony Kelly and Colin Curran. Irelands struggled to stay in touch during the first half with 0-3 from top scorer Maguire (2 frees) their only reply.

Half-time Sean McDermotts 1-06 Young Irelands 0-03

The McDermotts started the 2nd half in similiar dominant fashion and after two early points from Curran and Kelly, their Intermediate status looked secure with an 0-8 lead. Irelands had different ideas however with a young team who again staged another memorable comeback scoring 2-04 without reply. The introduction of Peter Nixon and Ciaran Conlon were crucial to Irelands cause with Nixon winning a lot of ball at midfield. Gerard Nixon, Derek Maguire and Michael Shields scored points before Mark Savage punched a goal for Irelands on 43 minutes. Andrew Nixon added a long range point before a Ciaran Conlon goal gave the Dundalk men an unlikely two point lead on 47 minutes. McDermotts however rallied again with points from Kelly and David Matthews to level matters with 5 minutes remaining.

Derek Maguire put the Irelanders back in front with a good point from play before a brace of Colin Currran points swung the balance back in McDermotts favour. It was left to Derek Maguire to come to Irelands rescue with a late pointed free before referee Gabriel McKenny sounded the final whistle. So the saga with the 2008 Championship relegation issues goes on. There was confusion as to whether extra-time should be played. No-one could get an answer and in the end McKenny decided to call a halt to proceedings and adjorn on another day.

In the end this was probably a fair outcome in a game that could have went either way. McDermotts will rue losing a big lead while Irelands will also regret not pushing on when they went two points clear after their second goal. 

Best for the McDermotts were John Curran, David Matthews and Colin Curran while Simon Flynn, Peter Nioxn and Derek Maguire were best for Irelands.

Dundalk Young Irelands
Craig McKenna, Donal Duffy, Simon Flynn, Gerry Hanratty, Robbie Farrell, Aaron Rogers, Shane O'Connell, Andrew Nixon (0-1), Gerard Nixon (0-1), Sean Rafferty, Alan Haughey, Michael Shields (0-1), Derek Maguire (0-6)4f, Mark Savage (1-0), David Lally.
Subs used: Peter Flynn for Donal Duffy, Peter Nixon for Gerard Hanratty, Ciaran Conlon (1-0) for Alan Haughey, Conor Nixon for Sean Rafferty

Sean McDermotts
Mark McEneaney, Mark Duffy, John Curran, Ciaran McMahon, David Matthews (0-2), Sean McMahon, David O'Neill, Patrck Osbourne, Declan Carroll, Kevin Carroll, Tony Kelly (0-5)3f 1sideline, Kevin McMahon, Colin Curran (0-5), Brendan McGahon, James Woods (1-0) 

Referee: Gabriel McKenny (Ardee)