St. Michaels / Nobber 1-8, Gaeil Colmcille 6-5

There was no quarter given or taken in this robust encounter in Grangegoddan last evening as the St. Michaels / Nobber combination began their Minor Championship campaign in disappointing fashion, losing by twelve points to Gaeil Colmcille who's goal hungry forwards proved too elusive for the combination side to handle.

There was little to choose between the sides on the field but the ability of the Kells lads to hit the net when the opportunities arose proved the key to victory. Shane McDonnell opened the scoring for St. Michaels / Nobber with a point in the opening minute but Gaeil Colmcille replied with the first of their majors four minutes later which was quickly followed by a point from play.

The town side were reduced to 14 men after 10 minutes after one of their players received a red card however the numerical advantage did not benefit the St. Michaels / Nobber combination as they were always chasing the game thereafter and things got away from them between the 16th and 19th minutes when Gaeil Colmcille bagged 2-1 to go 3-2 to 0-1 in front. Good interplay between Jordan Morris and Patrick Tobin resulted in Tobin hitting the back of the net for a much needed goal on 20 minutes, Morris followed up with two further points, one from play and one from a free to leave his side trailing by 1-3 to 3-2 at the interval.

A point apiece from Caolan McConnell and Jordan Morris in the opening three minutes of the second half reduced the deficit to three points but that's as good as it got for St. Michaels / Nobber as they failed to raise another flag until the 53rd minute when Shane McDonnell sent one over from a free. Aidan Shields and Morris completed the scoring for St. Michaels / Nobber and although Gaeil Colmcille took a break from scoring in the opening eleven minutes of the second half, they made up for it in the remaining 19 minutes registering 3-3 for a comfortable victory.

St. Michaels / Nobber team and scorers: Alex Farrell, Ciaran O'Reilly, Michael Bradley, Cormac Clarke, Conor Moran, Thomas Murtagh, Ben Reilly, Cian Sheridan, Shane McCormack, Paddy Tobin 1-0, Jordan Morris 0-4, Caolan McConnell 0-1, Aidan Shields 0-1, Shane McDonnell 0-2, Ewan Moran. Subs: Rory O'Driscoll for Ewan Moran, Scott Doyle for Michael Bradley, Cathal Fox for Tobin.

Referee: Des Smith.

Report and photo Pascal Reilly.

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