It was a share of the spoils on a wet night in Cusack Park last Sunday where St. Pauls and local rivals Delvin played out a 0-11 to 1-8 draw in an entertaining and sporting contest played in front of a large crowd in Cusack Park, Mullingar.

After missing the chance to open the scoring with a free, the Valley men opened the scoring on 2 minutes with a converted free from about 25 metres out on the right hand side as both sides settled into their stride.  It took St. Pauls 8 minutes to open their scoring account when midfielder Conor Slater converted a free after some good team work involving the forwards. A well taken point from play by Captain Johnny Fitzpatrick on 14 minutes left the Clonmellon outfit 1 point up half way through the first half. Delvin got their first point from play on 17 minutes to level up the scores at 2 points apiece but Conor Slater restored St. Pauls slender lead on 19 minutes with a well taken free. However St. Pauls couldn't stretch their lead and again Delvin came back and kicked the equalizing score on 20 minutes. Another pointed free from Conor Slater on 22 minutes and a well taken point from corner forward Mickey Travers a minute later finally extended St. Pauls lead to 2 points but with 5 minutes left on the clock in the first half Devin got the crucial score of the match when the St. Pauls full back line was breached allowing Delvin to score a goal from close range after they attacked down the right. The goal from the men in Maroon & white changed the entire outlook for both teams as they headed down the tunnel at half time with Delvin no doubt being the happiest of the two teams as they now led on an interval scoreline of Delvin 1-3 St. Pauls 0-5.

The second half of this game started off pretty much the same as the first half; Delvin converted an early free to put them 2 points up and then St. Pauls responding with an excellent point from full forward Kenny Higgins which left the minimum between the teams again after 5 minutes of the half. However Delvin began taking a stronghold on this game and came back to score 3 rousing points from play without reply on the 10th, 13th, and 18th minute of the second half leaving them up by 4 points with 12 minutes to play. But then came 10 minutes of pure supremacy by the St. Pauls team when they scored 5 unanswered points including 3 points from play and a converted free from Conor Slater and another fine individual point from number 14 Kenny Higgins to leave them leading this eagerly contested match by a single point. Delvin looked dead and buried at this stage but to their credit they managed to somewhat luckily manufacture a scoreable free which they duly converted with the last kick of the game meaning it's was a point apiece for these fierce rivals after full time. Some might say  draw was a fair result but St. Pauls will rue the fact thay they kicked 10 wides in this game and the fact that they were leading heading into time added on meaning the Valley men and their supporters were probably the happiest of the two heading out the N52 road on the way home afterwards. Next up for St. Pauls if a round 5 clash with St. Josephs next Friday evening in Lakepoint Park Mullingar, throw-in 8pm where the Clonmellon men will try and build on their final 10 minute performance from this game to try and secure 2 more valuable Championship points.

The St. Pauls team that lined out on the night was: Ollie Mulvaney, Ronnie Higgins, Ross Daly, Conor Buckley, Paddy Reilly, Johnny Fitzpatrick, Ciaran O'Connell, David Whelehan, Conor Slater, Conor Shaw, Ronan Kiernan, Jamie Fitzsimons, Mickey Travers, Kenny Higgins, Niall Leonard. Subs: Eoghan Reilly, Mickey Tighe, Michael Murphy, Jimmy McQuaid, Jack Carpenter, Graham Boland, Keith Forde, Lee O'Farrell.

Scorers on the night for St. Pauls were: Conor Slater 0-7 (4F), Johnny Fitzpatrick 0-1, Kenny Higgins 0-2, Mickey Travers 0-1.

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