Supreme Saints off to a flyer

St Fechins got the defence of the Louth Senior Hurling Championship crown off to an ideal start with a resounding victory over Naomh Moninne.

A block down in the Moninne half back line by Fechins centre forward Vincent Hynes inside the first minute set the tone for the night, and the defending champions attacking intent showed in the second minute when Seaghan Conneely put the sliotar past Moninne ‘keeper Niall Cafferkey for his side’s first goal.

By the time Diarmaid Murphy put Moninne on the scoresheet with a free after eighteen minutes, St Fechins had registered 2-8. Their second goal came from a penalty when Paul Mathews was pulled down inside the large rectangle and was finished to the net by Paddy Lynch.

Moninne enjoyed a spell of pos- session in which they scored three points, however two goals from Paul Mathews were followed by some excellent long range points from Vincent Hynes and Paddy McCormack to leave the half time score reading 4-9 to 0-5.

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first. A second Paddy Lynch goal was followed by three David Stephenson points. With outstanding defenders in Robert Moynagh, Cormac McAuley and the Byrne and Ryan brothers, St Fechins had the platform to set up lots of scoring opportunities. The Dundalk side tried to the end but were outclassed by a stronger Termonfeckin team. ST Fechins: Stephen Hackett, Coamhín Seery, Cormac McAuley, Robert Moynagh, Oisín Byrne, Cathal Ryan, Míchéal Byrne, Donal Ryan, Paddy McCormack 0-2, Conor Mathews, Vincent Hynes 0-3, Paddy Lynch 2-8, David Stephenson 0-3, Seaghan Conneely 1-2, Paul Mathews 2-0. Subs: Brian Stephenson for P. Mathews, Michael Ryan 0-1 for C. Seery, Paddy Reddy for M. Byrne, Colin Griffin for O. Byrne, Ross Berkery for B. Stephenson.