Mary’s up to fourth

ST MARYS COOLEY KICKHAMS 3-12 1-12

ST Marys moved into fourth place in the table on score difference after returning home from Fr McEvoy Park with a six-point victory on Sunday.

The Ardee side got off to a blistering start as points from Ronan Carroll and Mark Fay were followed by a Paudy Clarke goal inside five minutes.

Clarke then added another point before Cooley got off the mark with a Michael Rafferty point.

However, Jamie Rooney replied with a point before Robbie Leavy fired in a second goal to put his side 2-4 to 0-1 ahead with just over ten minutes played.

The advantage was 2-7 to 0-3 after 18 minutes but Cooley rallied in the closing stages and four unanswered points from Emmet Rogan (3) and Rafferty saw them cut the gap to six at the interval.

Although Cooley kicked the first point of the second half, any thoughts of a comeback were soon dashed as a brace from Kian Moran was followed by a goal from Conor Keenan to extend the lead to ten points.

Cooley did manage to find the net through Peter Thornton after 45 minutes but it was too late to save the game as the Marys held out for a comfortable victory.

ST MARYS: Alan McGauley; Brendan Matthews, Philip Traynor, Conor Keenan 1-0; Donal McKenny, Karl Faulkner, Eimhin Keenan; Robbie Leavy 1-1, Ronan Carroll 0-1; Paudy Clarke 1-2, Daire McConnon 0-1, Kian Moran 0-3; Mark Fay 0-1, Joe Mulholland, Jamie Rooney 0-1. Subs: Dean Matthews for M Fay, Liam Jackson 0-2 for P Clarke, John Bingham for J Mulholland, Wayne Matthews for J Rooney.

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Sean Hayes; Richard Brennan, Patrick Hanlon, James O’Reilly; Conor McGuinness, Darren Marks, Gerry Malone; Peter Thornton 1-0, Fearghal Malone 0-4; Michael Kane, Eoin McDaid, Michael Rafferty 0-2; Aoghain McGuinness 0-1, Emmet Rogan 0-4, Michael Carron 0-1. Subs: Conor Kenny, Keith White, Ciaran Sheelan, Alan Page.