Rovers in the hunt
HUNTERSTOWN ST MOCHTA’S 1-11 0-11
A Padraig Matthews goal six minutes from time proved decisive as Hunterstown Rovers maintained their push for automatic promotion with victory over St on Wednesday night.
The result leaves Rovers just a point behind leaders St Brides, who they play next, while for St Mochtas the defeat puts an end to their faint hopes of making the promotion playoffs.
It was the home side who got off to the better start and raced into an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead with Glen Matthews (2), Paul Carrie and Alan Landy on target in reply to a Philip Englishby point.
The Mochta’s hit back and with Declan Byrne beginning to find his range, the Louth Village men went in at the break leading by the minimum, 0-6 to 0-5.
The third quarter proved to be very closely contested as Hunterstown regained the lead with points from Paul Carrie and Richard Taaffe, only for Byrne and Andrew English to fire over and restore the Mochtas advantage.
When Ryan Ward pointed on 46 minutes the teams were level at eight points apiece and the game was very much in the balance.
However, it was Hunterstown who found the extra gear as Matthews hit the net to see his side lead by 1-11 to 0-9. The Mochtas did battle until the end but could only manage two points from Declan Byrne frees at Rovers reached the final whistle with a three point advantage.
HUNTERSTOWN ROVERS: Niall Carrie; Paul Taaffe, Brian Matthews, Martin Lennon; Patrick Taaffe, Paul Carrie 0-3, Richard Taaffe 0-1; Tony McKenna, David Finn 0-2; Ryan Ward 0-1, Brendan Lennon, Paddy Mooney 0-1; Alan Landy 0-1, Padraig Matthews 1-0, Glen Matthews 0-2. Sub: Keith Brennan for B Lennon.
ST MOCHTAS: Fergus English; David Lennon, Liam Lawlor, Donal Gernon; Gareth O’Reilly, Andy English 0-1, Barry Mulholland; Darren McMahon, Shane McMahon; Declan Byrne 0-7, Philip Englishby 0-1, Nigel Farrell; Liam McGranaghan 0-1, Gavin Breen, Eamon O’Neill 0-1. Subs: Emlyn Clerkin for N Farrell, Conor Lynch for G O’Reilly.