All-County Football Leagues under way
Devereux’s goal decisive
ST. MARTIN’S GLYNN-BARNTOWN 2-8 0-10
ST. MARTIN’S produced the type of display one would expect from an opening game, with their relentless effort eventually handing them a deserved four-point victory over Glynn-Barntown in this EBS All-County Football League Division 1 game in Killurin on Saturday.
When two sides that one would expect to have a real say in the eventual destination of the Senior title come the end of the season clash, a dogged and hard-fought encounter is always expected.
And that is what onlookers got over the 60 minutes, but with St. Martin’s finding the goal-getting groove, with one in each half, it proved sufficient to separate two evenly-matched sides.
Glynn-Barntown played into the strong wind in the opening half but still managed to open the scoring through a Shane Wilde point.
Seven minutes in, a point from newcomer Luke Kavanagh brought the sides level.
The experienced Ciarán Lyng impacted on the game in the tenth minute when his lobbing effort from 30 metres swirled in the wind and deceived ‘keeper Jamie Crean to finish in the corner of the net.
The goal helped liven up proceedings, with the sides going on to exchange points as Darren Codd and Matt Joyce showed fine accuracy from frees in spite of the difficult playing conditions.
Lyng swung over a fine point in his last piece of action at the end of the opening quarter. Minutes later he was forced to retire with a hamstring problem, but with Codd continuing to find the range from frees, St. Martin’s led by 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
St. Martin’s had the experienced Daithí Waters in midfield, with sources close to the team saying he has opted against a return to the inter-county scene, choosing instead to concentrate on club activity with John Meyler now at the hurling helm.
It was not the Waters of old as he struggled with the pace of the game, but still managed to hold up possession in midfield.
On the resumption, St. Martin’s all but killed this game off as a contest when one minute in Jack Devereux cut in from the wing to place a shot across ’keeper Jamie Crean into the opposite corner of the net, giving his side an 2-7 to 0-5 lead and an eight-point cushion to protect into the strong wind.
Nigel Usher and Matt Joyce (free) exchanged points before Darren Codd had a 47th-minute penalty excellently saved by ‘keeper Crean.
However, it was not enough to inspire a recovery, as they were solely reliant on Joyce’s pointed frees to keep them in contention.
St. Martin’s never looked like relinquishing the initiative, finishing the game with a series of attacks which produced a Codd pointed free close to the finish, and this despite being reduced to 14 minutes for the closing seven minutes after Joe Barrett was dismissed on a second yellow card.
St. Martin’s: Tomás Hayes; Eoin O’Leary, Michael Codd, Joe Barrett; Johnny Hamilton, Paudie Kelly, Sam Audsley; Daithí Waters, Philip Waters; Luke Kavanagh (0-1), Ciarán Lyng (1-1), Adam Cantwell; Jack Devereux (1-1), Darren Codd (0-4 frees), Kyle Firman. Subs. - Diarmuid Barry for Lyng (16), Mark Maloney (0-1) for Cantwell (45), Oisín Waters for Devereux (55), Ryan Murphy for Barry (55). Sin-bin: Johnny Hamilton (45).
Glynn-Barntown: Jamie Crean; Nigel Usher (0-1), Rob Tierney, Kevin Mahoney; Alan Cowman, David Clarke, Matthew Banville; John Leacy (0-1), Cormac Rowe; Conor Mahoney, Craig Doyle, Fionn Cooney; Shane Wilde (01), Michael O’Regan, Matt Joyce (0-7, 6 frees). Subs. - Barry Doyle for Cowman (37), Bill Joyce for Banville (45), Cormac Cooney for O’Regan (55).
Referee: Philip Murphy (Faythe Harriers).