Cardinal O'Donnell champions, St Patricks, continued their long winning sequence in Division 1 when they began the defence of their title with a 1-11 to 1-8 win at home to Kilkerley on Friday night.

The Lordship side appeared to be cruising to victory when they held a comfortable 1-7 to 0-2 lead at half time with Danny O'Connor grabbing the goal just before the end of the first quarter.

The gap was stretched to ten points soon after the restart but the visitors refused to give in as they reeled off the next five points to get back in the game.

With two minutes remaining, Shane Lennon found the net to give his team real hope. However, the Pats weathered the storm and a late point from Eoin O'Connor made sure of the win.

Sean O'Mahonys came from five points down early in the second half to get their campaign off to the best possible start with a 1-12 to 3-4 win over O Raghallaighs at the Point Road on Sunday afternoon.

With Conor Finnegan leading the way, the Dundalk men landed some good points but goals from Eoin Moore and Ben Rogan made the difference as their side went in at the break with a 2-2 to 0-6 lead.

Just after the restart, Moore added a second goal to put the Drogheda men in a strong position. However, the O'Mahonys were in no mood to lie down and Stephen Kilcoyne's goal midway through the half got them back in the game and they finished stronger to claim the two points.

Richard Kirwan was the star man for Dreadnots as they scored a very impressive 5-11 to 2-15 win away to Newtown Blues on Sunday afternoon.

Kirwan set the tone for a high-scoring encounter when he flicked the ball to the net for the first goal of the game and repeated the feat on 22 minutes to help his side lead by 2-8 to 0-7 at half time.

The entertainment levels increased early in the second half as the teams produced a total of 4-6 between them inside ten minutes. Hugh McGinn scored two goals for the Blues (one from a penalty) but each time the Dreadntos responded through Pepe Smith and Kirwan leaving the score 4-10 to 2-11.

The Dreadnots remained in control for the remainder of the game with Kirwan adding his fourth of the game.

Nh Mairtin made it a worthwhile trip to Dundalk on Sunday when they recorded a 0-10 to 0-8 win over the Gaels in a closely contested encounter.

Both teams battled in the opening half to get control of the game and it was the visitors who had slightly the better of things as they went in leading by 0-5 to 0-3.

The Dundalk men's hopes of taking something from the game were hampered when they were reduced to 13 men after both Derek Crilly and David Maloney were sent off.

The Martins took advantage by maintaining their two point advantage, but in the dying moments the Gaels almost snatched a dramatic winner when David McComish saw his goal effort blocked.

Mattock Rangers held off the Fechins at Collon on a scoreline of 0-11 to 0-8 thanks in part to in form forward David Reid who finished the game with 0-7.

After a relatively even first half, Mattock began to open up a bit of daylight between the teams and at the break they were 0-6 to 0-3 in front.

The second half followed a similar pattern as despite the best efforts of St Fechins they were unable to celebrate the return to Division 1 with victory as the Collon men held out for the win.

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