Trim 1-16, Bective 0-9

St Lomans Park was the venue for this top of the table clash between Trim and Bective on Friday night last.

When the two teams met earlier on in the season in the first round of the Corn Na Boine Cup Bective were the victors and dumped the Trim side out of that competition thus highlighting their arrival in intermediate football as a formidable side after winning the junior football championship in 2016. Although unbeaten to date in the league this season Trim performances have been Jekyll and Hyde'ish with up and down performances and could be accused of a lackadaisical approach to what they perceive are the simpler games to win. But they were wary of this Bective side that had moved onwards and upwards from junior status. Consequently there was an awareness in their camp pre match that this game would be a measure of their readiness for upcoming championship football.  So the scene was set for a cracker of a game and both teams did not disappoint as they played at championship pace throughout and served up an excellent game of football in almost perfect weather conditions.

The home side were fast and furious out of the traps and were five points up after eleven minutes. Full forward James Cullen had two points on the scoreboard with fifty second elapsed. Corner forward Daire Lynch followed with two more in the sixth and eight and half forward Nigel Duignan landed one in the eleventh minute. The visitors opened their account with a point two minutes later but the Trim side struck a large nail with a goal from corner forward Eoin O'Connor to be followed with a point from centre field man and intercounty star Alan Douglas to leave their side eight points up with sixteen minutes gone. Bective had their purple patch in the following six minutes when they clocked up three unanswered points to reduce the deficit to five points and looked to be gaining composure and recovering from the early Trim advances. The recovery was short live though as the home side upped the ante again in the final six minutes of the half `and were rewarded with three points on the trot from Cullen, half forward Ryan Andrews and centre back Ciaran Joyce.  Bective had the last say before half time with a point to leave the half time score at 1-9 to 0-5.

The expected retaliatory sting from Bective after the resumption did not materialise. They fired over a point in the first minute but the home side replied with two from the boot of  Daire lynch from a free and Robbie Kenny from play to maintain an eight point difference. Bective struck again in the seventh minute but Trim maintained the trend by replying with two more points from corner back Patrick Lennon and Alan Douglas. Lennon's effort was spectacular. He was involved in working the ball up the field from his corner and regained possession in the right hand corner where he shot to raise the white flag. The scoring trend continued with Bective scoring a point and  Trim replying with two around the twentieth with Kenny and Douglas doing the honours for the homesters. This opened up a ten point gap with five minutes left. Both sides traded points thereafter with Darryl Phelin completing Trim's tally.

The Trim backs were excellent to a man. They were tight, disruptive, destructive, tackled well and were always eager to attack up the field and Niall Murray in goals was safe as always. 

Trim scorers: Daire Lynch 0-3(1 free), James Cullen 0-3, Alan Douglas 0-3, Eoin O'Connor 1-0, Robbie Kenny 0-2, Nigel Duignan 0-1, Ryan Andrews 0-1, Ciaran Joyce 0-1, Patrick Lennon 0-1, Darryl Phelin 0-1.

Trim: Niall Murray, Patrick Lennon, Luke Moran, Rory McGrath, Declan Dowling, Ciaran Joyce, Ciaran O'Rourke, Robert Bourke, Alan Douglas, Ryan Andrews, Darryl Phelin, Nigel Duignan, Daire Lynch, James Cullen, Eoin O'Connor. Subs: Alan Carey, Robbie Kenny, Ciaran Giblin, Conal McGrenra, Joe O'Donoghue, Alan Shine, David Murtagh, Stephan Doyle.

 

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