Opening night success for O’Connell’s and the Blues

O’CONNELLS CLAN NA GAEL 2-11 0-11

O’CONNELLS got their season off to a winning start when they had six points to spare over the Clans on the Ecco Road on Saturday night.

The sides shared the first four points of the game with Niall Conlon landing both for the visitors and Robbie Curran getting both for the Clans from frees.

Conlon got his and his team’s third point of the game from a free but Sean O’Hanlon equalised a couple of minutes later. However, that was to be the home team’s last score of the half as the Bellingham side got a hold of the game.

Salem Rifaie put the visitors in front with a point before Jackie Agnew struck the first goal of the game while points from Conlon (2) and Conlon had the Bellingham side 1-7 to 0-3 ahead at the break. It could have been even more but for three excellent saves from Clans keeper, Cillian Rice in the closing stages.

Conlon increased his team’s lead with the first point of the second half and Curran got the home side on the board with a free. The Bellingham team got their second goal from a long ball in to Rifaie and he hand passed to Conlon who made no mistake shooting to the corner of the net.

Points from Mark Newell and Curran reduced the deficit but a point from Agnew left the score 2-9 to 0-6 after 47 minutes, before Newell and Paul Gore reduced the margin to seven going into the last eight minutes.

Conlon added to that lead with his seventh point of the game but points from Mark McGeown and a brace of frees from Curran left five between the sides with a couple of minutes to go. Substitute Cian Doyle got the last point of the game to wrap up the victory for O’Connells and ensure they made a winning start to their season.

O’CONNELLS: Stuart Reynolds; John McLoughlin, Conor Byrne,

David Brennan; Gerard Farrell, Conor McCulllough, Jason Dullaghan; Alan Brennan 0-1, Cein Sheridan, Dion Conlon 0-1; Ciaran Sheridan, Brian Duffy; Martin McArdle, Conor Sheridan, Aaron Devlin; Trevor O’Brien 0-5, Barry Brennan, Fiachra Sheridan 0-1. Subs: Kevin Kane, Dylan Kearney, Dean Brennan, Niall Sharkey. James Clerkin; Keith Ryan, Stuart Osborne, Stefan O’Hanrahan; Ciaran O’Brien, Conor Kiernan; Dean Corrigan, Salem Rifaie 0-1, Jackie Agnew 1-1; Paul McKeever, Niall Conlon 1-7, Robert Quigley 0-1. Subs Emmet Byrne for J McLoughlin, Conor McGill for C. O’Brien, David Hoey for J Clerkin, Cian Doyle 0-1 for P McKeever.

CLAN NA GAEL: Cillian Rice; Tiernan Weldon, Cian Callan, Kevin Carroll; Craig Long, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Micheal McDonnell; Robbie Curran 0-6, Paul Crewe; Jason Cullen, Sean O’Hanlon 0-1, Mark Lee; Mark Newell 0-1, Mark McGeown 0-1, Paul Gore 0-1. Subs: J Byrne 0-1 for K Carroll, T Reilly for T Weldon, G Curran for M Lee, D O’Donnell for J Cullen, D McGeown for M McGeown.

NEWTOWN BLUES OLIVER PLUNKETTS 4-17 0-10

NEWTOWN Blues began the new season as they finished the 2018 campaign with an impressive display in defeating Drogheda neighbours Oliver Plunketts on Saturday night.

Despite being without a number of players who are on duty with Louth, the County Champions proved they have plenty of strength in depth as they brushed aside the challenge of the Plunketts.

Robert Carr was in fine form in front of the posts as he finished with a total of eight points, while Jimmy Murray, John McDonnell, Hugh McGinn and Alan Connor all found the net.

The Plunketts battled throughout the contest but were unable to pose any serious questions for the hosts but they had good performers in Dean Carolan, Cillian Matthews and Tadgh O’Brien.

NEWTOWN BLUES: R Brown; N Costello, C Reynolds, T Costello; A Connor 1-0, J Connolly, J Kelly 0-1; C Reid, J McDonnell 1-2; L McQuillan, H McGinn 1-1, D Nally 0-2; R Carr 0-8, J Murray 1-3, J Doherty. Subs: T McCann for L McQuillan, J Moore for J Connolly, E McConnon for A Connor, P Moore for C Reynolds, A McGinn for J McDonnell.

OLIVER PLUNKETTS: Stephen Beirth; Tadhg O’Brien, Josh Cormican, Ciaran McCormack; Cillian Matthews, Cian Matthews, Ricky Bateson; Dean Carolan, Trevor Walsh; David Lambe, Cian Brady, Sean Callaghan; Craig O’Connor, Andy Morgan, Kevin Keogh. Subs: Luke Haggins for S Callaghan, Niall Murtagh for C O’Connor, Colm Duffy for S Beirth.