The mens 1st team travelled out to Rush on Sunday with the intention of furthering their success with their second league game of the week, against St. Maurs. It was a bright and blustery morning which proved to be ideal conditions for the boys in green as they came out of the traps from the first blast of the whistle.
O’Dwyers started off very strong as a string of beautiful handpasses and following runs saw Cian Carrol open the scoring with a point from just outside of the “D”. Maurs made an attempt to answer back with a score of their own but some excellent defending from James Keenan and an interception from Ciarán Morrisey kept them clear of any concession. Precise passes in transition from O’Dwyers enabled us to break down the field and maintain pressure on the Rush side that couldn’t keep up with the quick fire handpasses and eventually saw Ciarán Gaye slotting over a free. An early goal chance went just wide of the post as Darragh Kehoe danced through 3 Maurs defenders and was forced off balance which proved just enough to keep their net clean. O’Dwyers had immense pressure on the home side's kickout with 3 consecutively being won which led to Ciarán Gaye finding himself with his second point of the game and John Meany adding himself to the scoresheet. Dylan Andrews made a beautiful run down the right hand side and picked out a brilliant inside ball for Padraic Kehoe who combined with Peter Lawless to draw out the Maurs defence and set up Cathal O’Rourke with a looping run who took an outstanding score from 30 m out and extended the score to 0-0 to 0-5.
It took the home side 10 minutes of play to find their first score as some scrappy ball fell to their attacker and landed himself in a pocket of space to break their scoreless run. It didn't take long for the visitors to break out again as some persistent marking from Cian Carrol earned him a free which enabled us to regain territory in the opposition half. Maurs didn’t seem to be able to handle the high intensity that O’Dwyers were imposing on them and this proved to be the case as 2 consecutive challenges from Josh Clarke won the ball back and indirectly set up Darragh Kehoe for his first contribution to the scoreline. O’Dwyers were attacking the home kickouts with force as another highball break down was recovered by John Meany and led to a free. A switch of play and a string of direct passes orchestrated by Dylan Andrews saw Padraic Kehoe in a pocket of space from a long way out as he hit a beautiful score with the outside of his boot to prove that the tight angle was not a challenge for him. More tight marking from James Keenan forced an error from the Maurs full forward and led to a forceful counter attack which ended in Cathal O’Rourke winning a free and leaving Ciarán Gaye with a straightforward score. The O’Dwyers defence started from the full forward line and this remained the case for most of the first half as Maurs struggled to break out of their own half. Tadhg Rooney winning the race against his marker to collect the long ball attempt from the Maurs 6 set up an opportunity for a cross field pass which found John Clarke and ended with him splitting the posts from the right hand side. The green wall that was the O’Dwyers full back line remained strong as they swallowed up another Maurs attack and earned themselves a free out to keep the scoreline comfortable.
It would only get worse for the hosts as Padraic Kehoe set off down the right flank and sent 2 defenders flailing with dummy handpasses and found a pass inside to Ciarán Gaye who was dragged to the ground by the defender. The penalty was taken well by Ciarán Gaye who found the bottom left corner, sending the keeper the wrong way. The floodgates seemed like they were about to open as a 3-on-2 situation popped up straight from the kick out but saw Darragh Kehoe’s shot at goal saved by the goalkeeper to save them conceding another 3 points. After a few stoppages the game seemed to slow down as Ciarán Morrisey who had an excellent performance was the focal point of the keep-ball passing O’Dwyers were playing to wear down the Maurs defence and finish out the first half. A great score taken by Jamie Andrews would be the final say for the first half-hour as the travelling team went into the team-talks leading 1-11 to 0-1.
O’Dwyers didn’t seem interested in giving Maurs a chance to revive themselves as Dylan Andrews took his first score of the game while being pressed off-balance by the defender to set the tone for the second half. Maurs seemed to find themselves gaining ground and attempting to get themselves going again but were engulfed by a sea of green jerseys upon any attempt of breaking past the 45. They were eventually rewarded with a score from a free after 3 consecutive forced wides but this did not hinder the focus of the visitors in the slightest as the pressure continued in all areas of the pitch. John Meany had a shot on goal saved by the keeper after a long period of back and forward in the midfield but once again this had no effect on the away persistence as Josh Clarke slotted over a point set up by Micheál Jules who had a positive effect on the game after coming on. After another forced save by O’Dwyers led to continued pressure and a lovely score by Micheál Jules added another different name to the long list of scorers for O’Dwyers. A free from distance added another to Ciarán Gaye’s tally followed by a well-worked second from Darragh Kehoe was showing that O’Dwyers were really enjoying themselves at this point and there was no coming back for the hosts. John Clarke found the keeper too far off his line and kicked a goal from outside of the 21 which would prove to be the final action of the match.
Final Score St. Maurs 0-2 2-14 O’Dwyers
A great win for the team to end off a successful week with 2 wins from 2 which lands them 2nd in Division 5 after Geraldine P. Morans dropped points in their respective game. Massive credit to all the players and management for the massive week in terms of results.
O’Dwyers Abú
