A commanding and clinical first half display earned St. Michaels a battling victory over Oldcastle in this division 4 reserve league final played in ideal conditions in Pairc Tailteann on Friday evening last and in doing so Dáithi Reilly became the first captain to hold aloft the Eddie Callan memorial cup which was kindly donated to the Meath Co. Board earlier this year.

St. Michaels healthy mix of youth and experience came to the fore with the likes of captain Dáithi Reilly, Tommy Moriarty, Christopher Drew, Matthew Halpin and Adam O'Brien causing Oldcastle all sorts of problems throughout. Both sides exchanged points on the opening 4 minutes with Darren O'Connell opening the winners account. On six minutes Oran Meehan was on hand to pounce on a loose ball in the Oldcastle square and deflect it to the back of the net. Oldcastle cut the deficit to two points on eight minutes but good work between Tommy Moriarty and Ronan Cassidy saw the latter restore St. Michaels three point lead. Oldcastle fired over a further two points before a Darren O'Connell converted free on 17 minutes put his side into a 1-3 to 0-4 lead. Johnny Reilly sent over another point from open play on 21 minutes and when Oran Meehan's shot on goal was brilliantly saved by Mark Fitzsimons, the Oldcastle net minder was helpless when Meehan latched on to the rebound and sent it low to the back of the net for his and his sides second major. Two further points from Gary Dolan and one from Oldcastle saw St. Michaels go in at the break leading 2-6 to 0-5.

The second half was more evenly contested and produced some excellent passages of play with St. Michaels just shading it on a scoreline of 1-6 to 1-5. Darren O'Connell and Matthew Halpin  won their fair share of ball around the middle third and together with the ageless Tommy Moriarty having the game of his life, they pumped plenty of ball into their forward division. O'Connell and Halpin had opened the St. Michaels second half account with a point apiece, Oldcastle countered and sent over 5 points in the opening 13 minutes of the half but having taken the game to St. Michaels they were dealt a severe blow on the three quarter mark when Thomas O'Brien having just come on as a sub got on the end of a speculative lob in towards the Oldcastle goal area and he deftly nudged it past the advancing Oldcastle keeper Mark Fitzsimons for his sides third goal. That score took the wind from the Oldcastle sails and although they added a further 1-1 in the final quarter, a further 4 points from Johnny Reilly killed off the losers challenge and sealed a memorable victory for the St. Michaels lads. Ronan Cassidy, Philip Rogers, Gary Dolan, Oran Meehan and Ollie Reilly were others to put in a good evenings work.

St. Michaels team and scorers:
Paddy Flood, John Stafford, Dáithi Reilly, Ollie Reilly, Christopher Drew, Philip Rogers, Adam O'Brien, Darren O'Connell 0-3, Matthew Halpin 0-1, Tommy Moriarty, Ronan Cassidy 0-1, Lee Morris, Gary Dolan 0-2, Johnny Reilly 0-5, Oran Meehan 2-0.
Subs: Thomas O'Brien 1-0 for Lee Morris 42 minutes, Ben Tobin for Oran Meehan 55 minutes, Eddie Carolan for Gary Dolan 56 minutes, Michael Dunne for Ollie Reilly 58 minutes.

Referee: Martin Ennis

Report: Pascal Reilly.

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