Knockout picture emerging
NA Piarsaigh struck a late point to claim a narrow victory over St Mochtas in an entertaining Sheelan Cup Group B game on the Rock Road on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
In a game that saw the lead change hands on a number of occasions, it was the Mochtas who started best and two Eamon O’Neill scores helped them to lead by 0-3 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter. However, on 17 minutes Na Pairsaigh stuck for the game’s first goal to go into the lead by one point.
The sides were level on 29 minutes but the impressive Martin McGahon finished the half in style as he struck a quick-fire 1-1 to give the Louth Village side a 1-6 to 1-2 lead at the break.
Na Pairsaigh started the second half really well and kicked 1-2 in the first eight minutes of the half, with their goal coming from David Boyle shooting under the dive of St Mochtas keeper Fergus English.
Over the next 10 minutes the sides traded a number of scores, two of which came from Eamonn McAuley who was re-introduced as a sub.
Two nice scores from St Mochtas sub, Brendan Duff, drew the sides level on 30 minutes, however Na Pairsaigh still had time to counter attack and they fisted the final score two minutes into injury time to seal victory. NA PIARSAIGH: Alan Molloy; Fergal Mulholland, David Yore, Stephen McGuinness; Kieran Murphy, Ronan McCartney, Joe Woods; Joe Garvey, Mickey Woods; Eamonn McAuley, David Boyle, Alan McCartney; Damien McGeeney, Gavin McGee, Conor Shields.
ST MOCHTAS: Fergus English; David Lennon, Liam Lawlor, Tommy Kindlon; Donal Gernon, Gary Connolly, Barry Mulholland; Emlyn Clerkin 0-1, Gareth O’Reilly; Ultan Larney, Eamonn O’Neill 0-3, Stephen McCooey; Conor Lynch, Nigel Farrell 0-2, Martin McGahon 1-1. Subs: Brendan Duff 0-3, Liam McGranaghan, Gavin Breen 0-1, Cormac Callan, Liam Kindlon.
FULL-FORWARD Gary Matthews fired in three goals to help Naomh Fionnbarra to a four-point victory over Hunterstown in the Sheelan Cup Group C clash at Darver on Friday night.
Rovers made the brighter start and got off the mark through Tony McKenna but the Togher men got on the scoresheet via an early goal after a high ball caused confusion in the Hunterstown full back line and full forward Gary Matthews was on hand to finish the ball into the empty net.
A number of points for the Barrs followed as the Hunterstown had no answer to the pressure from the Togher men and their work rate.
Scorers in the first half included Jack Butterly with three classy points, the Osborne brothers Hugh and Conor, along with Pádraig Butterly.
Brendan Lennon replied with a point for Hunterstown but Matthews struck a second goal to send his team in leading by 2-7 to
0-2 at half time.
Hunterstown upped it a gear in the second half and led by the impressive Glen Matthews they tacked on a number of points and a goal from Tony McKenna as the Barrs struggled to regain the momentum from the previous half.
Jack Butterly hit back with a point before Matthews completed his hat-trick with a well-taken goal to give the Togher men the breathing space they needed. Hunterstown scored a few more points but couldn’t get back on level terms. Both Bryan Sharkey and Jack Butterly were also unlucky not to score more goals for the Barrs. Nicholas Butterly rounded off the scoring with a point off the post for the Finbarrs while Bernard Osborne produced another fine save at the other end. NAOMH FIONNBARRA: Bernard Osborne; Hugh McGrane, Kieran Lenihan, Michael McGrane; Bryan Sharkey, Óisín McGee, Pádraig Butterly 0-1; John Doyle, Patrick McGrane; Hugh Osborne 0-2, Conor Osborne 0-1, Nicholas Butterly 0-1; Jack Butterly 0-4, Gary Matthews 3-0, Máirtín Murphy. Subs: Pádraic Murphy for M Murphy, Chris McGlynn for N Butterly.
HUNTERSTOWN ROVERS: Niall Carrie; Brian Matthews, Richard Taaffe, Richard Cunningham; Keith Brennan, Muiris O Suilleabhain 0-1, Patrick Taaffe; Tony McKenna 1-1, David Finn; Martin Lennon, Glen Matthews 0-6, Brendan Lennon 0-2; Patrick Mooney, Paul Carrie, Alan Landy. Subs: Colm McKenna for M Lennon, Shane Dowdall for R Taaffe, Padraig Matthews for A Landy, Gary Marron for P
Mooney.
NEWTOWN Blues booked their passage into the knock-out stages of the Paddy Sheelan Cup thanks to this narrow victory over Clan na Gael in Group D on Saturday evening.
The Drogheda men went into the game two points behind the Clans but knew that victory would see them through to the last eight by virtue of the head-to-head.
The Dundalk side would have qualified had they drawn the game and in a tense finale they came very close to leveling matters despite playing the final quarter with 14 men.
This game was close throughout but it was the Blues who struck the first major blow when Ronan Levins hit the back of the net. However, the Clans responded almost immediately when a good move ended with JJ Quigley and Mark McGeown combining to set up Robbie Curran for a goal.
That score helped send the teams in level at 1-4 apiece.
The second half continued to be closely contested but Blues were given a boost when the Clans had Ian Carr dismissed at the midway stage.
With Hugh McGinn starring in attack, the Drogheda men took advantage to edge a point clear. Howerver, they had to survive a lot of pressure in the closing stages as the Clans threatened the equaliser, before holding out for victory. NEWTOWN BLUES: Jason Lowney; John Connolly, Fergal O’Donoghue, Paul Moore; Ronan Levins 1-0, Conor Farrell, Ian Connor; Cormac Reynolds, Ciaran Downey 0-1; Robert Carr, Hugh McGinn 0-6, Lorcan McQuillan; Jamie Kelly 0-1, James Murray 0-1, Conor Moore. Subs: Stephen Jordan for L McQuillan, Caolann McKenna 0-1 for J Kelly.
CLAN NA GAEL: Sean Smith; Ian Carr, Paul Crewe 0-1, Donal Boyle; Craig Long, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Micheal McDonald; Robbie Curran 1-0, Conor Noonan; Mark Newell, JJ Quigley 0-1, Stephen Coleman; Mark McGeown 0-6, Ray McCabe, Paul Gore. Subs: Adrian McGlynn for C Long, Paul Martin for S Coleman.
ST Patricks can look forward to the quarter-final of the Paddy Sheelan Cup after completing their Group E campaign with a very comfortable win over an understrength Dreadnots.
The game at Lordship on Saturday evening was one-way traffic for much of the hour as the home side made it three wins from three against a Clogherhead team whose interest in the competition was already ended.
The Pats chalked up big scores in their opening two games and they maintained that form in this encounter as goals from Paddy Keenan and Patrick Kirk had them leading by a handsome 2-10 to 0-2 at the break.
The Dreadnots did raise their game in the second half and managed to raise a green flag but it was only temporary respite as the hosts continued to control the game.
Jason Woods maintained his good goal-scoring run with another three-pointer while Aidan McCann also found the net. ST PATRICKS: Rory Duffy; Daniel Rice, Dessie Finnegan, Darren O’Hanlon; Kevin White, Kevin Toner 0-1, Ross Murphy; Paddy Keenan 1-2, Thomas McCann 0-1; Cathal Grogan 0-4, Eoghan Lafferty 0-1, Aidan McCann 1-4; Jason Woods 1-2, Evan White 0-3, Patrick Kirk 1-1. Subs: Owen Zamboglou, Alan O’Connor, Patrick Lynch, Shane Murphy, Sean McGeough.
ST Brides men maintained their 100% record in this year’s Paddy Sheelan Cup by making it three wins from three and now advance to the knockout stages.
This back fixture was played under lights on Friday evening at the Louth GAA Centre of Excellence at Darver and was a close affair in the first half which ended level at 0-8 apiece.
Although the second half was a low scoring affair St Brides managed to pull away from their opponents and raised the green flag twice through Ciaran Deane and Cathal McKenna as they ran out eventual winners by four points. ST BRIDES: Alan Meegan; Roan Bailey, Alan Dunne, Padraic Mackin; Michael Keane, Mark Hoey, Johnny Culleton; James Costello, Conor Deane; Sean Marry 0-2, Kevin Hearty 0-2, Andrew Smyth; Ciaran Deane 1-3, Conaill Devin 0-3, Sean Brennan. Subs: Cathal McKenna 1-0 for K. Hearty, Aaron Hoey 0-1 for J. Costelloe, Stephen Kettle for S. Brennan, Gareth Hall for J. Culleton.
OLIVER PLUNKETTS: Luke Haggins; Sean Campbell, Sean Brassil, Sean Rice; Cillian Matthews, Jams Guinn, Cian Matthews; Robbie Brodigan, Conor Early; Emmet Kelleher, David Lambe, Niall Murtagh; Kevin Keogh, Sean Callaghan, Marty Walsh. Subs: Cian Brady for K Keogh, Francis Daly for S Rice, Nathan Lwelynn for D Lambe.