Cappagh 1-09 Athgarvan 0-13

Cappagh lost out to Athgarvan by the narrowest of margins on Friday night at floodlit New Tag Downey park in rd 2 of the Dowling cup.

As in round 1, Cappagh were misfiring upfront early on with some good chances going abegging while Athgarvan were more clinical at the clubhouse end and lead by 0-03 to no score after 10 mins. Dean Brennan eventually opened Cappagh's account when he pulled on a broken ball and his rising shot flew over the crossbar. Things got better for Cappagh when James Grogan drove through from centrefield and fired low to the net to put Cappagh ahead. Cappagh were now on top and creating chances. A couple of good chances were missed before James Grogan from play, Thomas Jackman and Jack Mulligan from frees and Eoin Barclay from play in response to 2 points for Athgarvan left Cappagh 1 05 to 0 05 ahead at the break.

At half time fullback James Towell and full forward Dean Brennan were both replaced due to injury, with Cappagh stalwart Alvin Galligan coming into the fullback line and Glen Carter making his senior competitive debut coming into the forward line.

As they did in the first half, Athgarvan started the 2nd half by adding 3 quick points to level the game. Cappagh were finding chances harder to come by as Athgarvan brought more bodies back to defend, but two excellent frees from Thomas Jackman put Cappagh ahead and then back level following two more scores from Athgarvan. Peter Warren made his competitive Cappagh debut when he replaced Cillian Devine in the half back line and Cian Barclay replaced the hard working Cameron Dowd in the half forward line. Athgarvan were now on top and a further two points saw them push two clear with 10 minutes to go. A 2nd yellow card for Alan Duff saw Cappagh reduced to 14 for the remainder of the game. The men in red and white rallied to try and rescue the game and a super long range score from Jack Mulligan and a pointed free from Thomas Jackman levelled the scores at 1 09 to 0 12. In an exciting finale Athgarvan hit the front again through a pointed free. Cappagh had a late chance to equalise but a late Thomas Jackman free drifted wide and Athgarvan held on for the win in an entertaining game.

The win sees Athgarvan qualify for the knockout stages, with Cappagh hosting Rathcoffey next week in round 3 with the winners of that game to progress in 2nd spot following Rathcoffey's one point win over Robertstown on Friday night.

Congratulations to Glen Carter and Peter Warren on making their senior competitive Cappagh debuts.

Cappagh; Dylan Whelan, Alan Duff, James Towell, Iarla Nolan, Eoin Barclay (0-1) David Lovely, Cillian Devine, James Grogan (1-01) Brendan Sheridan, Cameron Dowd Thomas Jackman (0-4f) Jack Mulligan (0-2 (1f)) Brian McNally, Dean Brennan (0-1) Patrick Jackman. Subs Alvin Galligan for J Towell ht, Glen Carter for Dean Brennan ht, Peter Warren for Cillian Devine, Cian Barclay for Cameron Dowd.