O’Dwyers 0-11. Crumlin 0-09

By John Manner O'Brien

In the sunshine last Sunday morning in Braemore, the men’s team were forced to grind out a result against a ferocious Crumlin side in order to reach a championship semi-final for the first time in almost 20 years.

A slow and what looked like a nervous start for the home side seen Crumlin put the first 2 points on the board from play but that would be the best it would get for the away side as the game went on.

The energetic Peter Lawless got the first score on the board for O'Dwyers with a lovely run and finish from distance. The pattern of the game continued in that way with Crumlin on a lot of possession and the O'Dwyers defence holding their shape and discipline with some massive blocks from Jamie Andrews. It would stay 0-2 to 0-1 to Crumlin as we went into the water break.

The men in green and white came out after the water break determined to put a mark on the game and that's what they did. 5 unanswered points in the next 15 minutes. 3 from the boot of Liam Prout and 1 apiece from that man Stephen hammer Crawley and Dan Dan Doherty. The defensive pressure from the home side meant that they would keep Crumlin scoreless in that 15-minute period and the score was 0-6 to 0-2 at the half time break.

The second half started in the same pattern as the first with Crumlin on a lot of possession but O'Dwyers defensive shape keeping them at bay with good pressure on the ball. The home side started picking them and breaking away and getting points at good times. With Arron Keenan pointing twice and Jude O'Sullivan with 1 point. O'Dwyers discipline in the tackle started to get lazy and Crumlin were kept in the game with kickable frees which left the game at 0-9 to 0-6 to the home side which left the game on a knife-edge going into the last quarter of the game

With Mikey Corcoran getting a bang to the head a brave change was made and Lee Fanning came in. With his first kick of the game he picked out Jamie Andrews who marked the ball and passed it on to his brother Dylan who scored a nice point followed shortly after by a second point of the game from big Jude. Which gave O'Dwyers some breathing space with a 5-point lead.

As the Crumlin pressure started to build the Andrews' brothers then turned into the villains with Dylan being black carded and Jamie receiving his second yellow of the game to leave the home side with only 13 men for the last few minutes of the game. The lads. With the scores at 0-11 to 0-9 going into the last couple of minutes the O'Dwyers rearguard held out to win by 2 points in the end.

Well done to all involved

Onto the semi-final now where they will play Geraldine P Moran’s on Sunday 13th.