The Brian Dillons Junior (C) Footballers are through to the semi-final of the 2012 City Division Junior (C) Football Championship by virtue of an impressive, 1-13 to 2-8, victory over Nemo Rangers in the quarter-final, which was played in Ballinlough on Monday evening 13th August,2012.

                The performance produced by the Brian Dillons squad, in this game, was most encouraging and ,similar to their two previous Championship outings against Delanys, they played their best football in the second-half.   Dave O" Donoghue opened the scoring for Brian Dillons with a pointed free in the first minute, but Nemo had stormed into 1-2 to 0-1 lead after ten minutes play. Another pointed free kept Brian Dillons in touch  and Nemo were stunned when Luke O"Connell crashed the ball to the back of the net after fifteen minutes to leave the minumum between the sides,... Nemo,1-3; Dillons, 1-2.

                Brian Dillons levelled the scores with another Dave O" Donoghue point ,after sixteen minutes, but,then, followed a period of Nemo dominance which yielded a further 1-3, which gave them a commanding ,2-6 to 1-3, lead and it looked ,at this stage that the game was slipping away from Brian Dillons grasp. However, displaying the same spirit and determination that was evident in their previous two games, Brian Dillons kicked four unanswered points in the closing five minutes of the first-half which left the half-time score read, Nemo 2-6; Dillons,1-7.

             The second- half  saw Nemo stretch their lead with a seventh minute point but, they were unable to score again until the third minute of additional time. This was due to the outstanding performance of the Brian Dillons defence in which all seven were superb,particularly Eoin Keane, who gave a man-of- the match display. The Brian Dillons forwards were also, finding it difficult to find the target and many chances were lost through faulty shooting. However, when Dave O"Donoghue levelled the scores after twenty minutes of the second-half, the points started to flow for Brian Dillons and the end of normal time they had raced into a 1-13 to 2-7 lead. Nemo tried hard for the equalising goal in the four minutes of additional time only to be denied by the brilliance of the Brian Dillons defence ,in which "keeper, Paul McCarthy brought off a top class save in an exciting climax.  A pointed free for Nemo ,in the 33rd minute of the second-half, closed the scoring and the final whistle sounded a minute later with Brian Dillons ahead by 1-13 to 2-8.

                 This was another encouraging performance by the Brian Dillons third team and they can look forward to their semi-final clash , against Rochestown, with confidence. As already mentioned earlier in this report, the Brian Dillons defence were superb, particularly in the second-half.  while at mid-field, Adam O" Halloran and Shane Maher ,after a shaky opening half- hour got on top after the change of ends..In the attack  the speed and agility of youngsters, Kevin Allen and Kevin Varian, caused many problems for the Nemo defence while Dave O"Donoghue was in fine scoring form.  The experience of both Derek Whelan and Andrew Daly was also very evident in this game with both contributing  many assists for their colleagues to score.

              Scorers for Brian Dillons were; Dave O"Donoghue, 0-6 (0-2 frees); Kevin Allen, 0-4 (0-1 free); Luke O"Connell, 1-0. Dylan O"Donoghue, 0-2; and Shane Maher, 0-1;

               Team; (1) Paul McCarthy; (2)  Donal Shek; (3) Paul Horgan; (4) Eoin Keane; (5) Luke O"Connell; (6) Dylan O"Donoghue; (7) James Varian; (8) Adam O"Halloran; (9) Shane Maher; (10) Dave O"Donoghue; (11) Derek Whelan;(12) Kevin Allen; (13) Damian Horgan; (14) Andrew Daly;(15) Kevin Varian;     Sub. Sean Kelly for Donal Shek (40 mins.); Subs.not used;  Ciarain Kelleher; Alan Delaney; Ed Dunphy and Damian Normoyle.