Syddan 2-10
Oldcastle 1-12
Three unanswered points in the final five minutes secured a winning start for Syddan in the JFC C at Drumbaragh.
Substitute Wayne Duff and Darren Smith were both on target before Sean Malone shot the winning point three minutes from the finish.
Boosted by an early Conor Dillon penalty goal Syddan led for most of the half before Oldcastle fought back to be level at the break 0-7 to 1-4.
Oldcastle went two points clear early in the second half before points from Cathal Dardis and Gary McManus and a goal from Michael Fedigan restored the Syddan lead.
An Oldcastle goal levelled matters heading into the final quarter and they then opened up a two point advantage before Syddan's late rally.
Syddan - B Corcoran; K Carry, B Bashford, A Smith; P Smith, P Sheehy, G McManus (0-1); C Dardis (0-2), R Farrelly; P White, S Malone (0-1), S Fedigan; M Fedigan (1-1), C Dillon (1-2), D Smith (0-2). Subs: W Duff (0-1) for S Fedigan, M Dardis for White..
Oldcastle defeated by single point.
Syddan 2-10
Oldcastle 1-12
Oldcastle were unlucky to leave Drumbaragh empty-handed after a hard fought battle with Syddan. Syddan got off to the better start converting two points from play and a penalty before Oldcastle got their scoring of the mark. Oldcastle then dominated the game hitting five unanswered scores to bring the game to a draw. The first three scores came from Oldcastle frees with two from Jason Scully and One from CJ Healy. Gerard Reidy was also on target adding another for Oldcastle following good play from James Maxwell. Scully added a third to his name after Joe Usher won the ball at midfield. Syddan responded with a converted free to keep the lead but Scully was again on form to keep the minimal between the sides. The sides traded scores in the closing minutes of the first half with syddan scoring from play and Oldcastle from a free, leaving the game level at half time.
Oldcastle started the second half well with CJ Healy putting over his second free in the opening minute. Scully aided in Oldcastle taking the lead for the first time in the game adding another with good play from Usher and Reidy. However, it was Syddan who were to bridge the gap as they put over two of their own. Shortly after they gained their second goal of the game to ensure they kept their advantage. Scully added another free which was swapped with a Syddan free. Oldcastle were continuing to attack and taking every advantage to get the better of Syddan and this was proven when centre-back Ignas Ramonas put the ball in the back of the Syddan net to again bring the game to a draw. The next two scores were Oldcastle's as they began to build, a converted free from Healy and a point from play from Eoin McNamee. The final scores of the game came from Syddan and that proved the difference as Syddan had a one point lead over Oldcastle as the final whistle blew.
Oldcastle: M.Fitzsimons, J.Smith, J.Weir, O.O'Reilly, E.McNamee (0-1), I.Ramonas (1-0), J.Maxwell, J.Usher, R.Cadden, CJ.Healy (0-3), J.Scully (0-7), G.Reidy (0-1), B.Griffin, D.Hubble, J.Caffrey. Subs: P.Reilly for D.Hubble, C.Delaney for G.Reidy, M.Rudden, S.Feeney.