Joes and Cooley get off to a winning start

ST JOSEPHS O RAGHALLAIGHS 0-13 0-8

THE Joes got their season off to a winning start in round 1 of the Sheelan Cup with a five-point win over the O Raghallaighs in Cluskey Park.

Alan Quigley and Eoin Moore traded points early on and that set the trend for a tight first half. Quigley accounted for three more points while Ruairi Moore and Barry Flanagan were on target for the Drogheda men as the teams were level at four points apiece on 22 minutes.

However, the Joes finished the half strongly by hitting four unanswered points, two each from Jack Mulligan and Alan Quigley to lead by 0-8 to 0-4 at the break.

The O Raghallaighs, with the aid of the breeze, narrowed the margin from a Barry Flanagan 25m free and the Joes goal had a narrow escape when a blistering shot went narrowly wide. The sides exchanged points with Oisin McGuinness on target for the Joes and Olan Walshe responding for the O Raghallaighs to leave the Joes ahead by 0-9 to 0-6 after 40 minutes.

Killian Staunton and Alan McKenna were central to many fine Joes attacks and a strong run by David Kieran setup Oisin McGuiness to extend the Joes lead to four.

The visitors hit back with Barry Flanagan pointing from a superb long-range strike. An Alan Quigley 13m free for the Joes was cancelled out by a point from full forward John Horan to leave the Joes ahead by 0-11 to 0-8 on 49 minutes. As in the first half the Joes finished strongly with two points from Oisin McGuinness to leave the Joes winners on a scoreline of 0-13 to 0-8.

Shane Barron; Aidan Kieran, Philip Brennan, Stefan Potts; David Kieran, Shane McQuillan, Gerard Hoey; Adam O’Connor, Killian Staunton; Alan McKenna, Daire Smyth, Conor Neary; Jack Mulligan (0-2), Oisin McGuinness (0-4), Alan Quigley (0-7). Subs: Ian McDonald for G Hoey, Daire McKiernan for A Kieran.

O RAGHALLAIGHS: Joe Flanagan; Matthew Moore, Ciaran Brassil, Kevin Magee; James Morgan, Stephen Murphy, Emmet King; Eoin Moore (0-2), Ruairi Moore; Scott Byrne, Barry Flanagan (0-4), Bryan Smith; Ciaran O’Reilly, John Horan (0-1), Olan Walshe (0-1).

COOLEY KICKHAMS GLYDE RANGERS 2-11 0-8

Cooley Kickhams made an encouraging start to the Sheelan Cup Group B campaign as the ran out comfortable winners at home to Glyde Rangers on Saturday night.

Goals from Michael Carron and Joseph Quinn either side of the break made the difference as the peninsula side emerged with a nine-point victory.

The Tallanstown side were competitive for much of the opening half but Cooley opened up a gap thanks to a goal from Michael Carron and at the break they were in a strong position with a 1-9 to 0-6 lead.

The result was never in doubt from that stage and a relatively quiet second period produced just five scores. The most significant came from substitute Joseph Quinn who added the second goal of the game to seal victory.

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Shane Marks, Keith White, Dylan McGarrity; Dean McGreehan, Luke White, James O’Reilly 0-1; Peter Thornton, Patrick Hanlon; Emmet Rogan 0-4, James Loughran, Aoghain McGuinness; Michael Carron 1-1, Brian White 0-3, Michael Rafferty 0-1. Subs: Alan Page, Daniel Hanlon, Emmet McGuigan 0-1, Joseph Quinn 1-0, Patrick Sheelan, Declan McGuinness.

GLYDE RANGERS: