St Vincents Curraha 2-11, St Michaels 1-10.
On a perfect evening for football, St Vincents Curraha travelled to Carlanstown on Friday 17th September to play this first round championship match under lights at the north Meath venue.
In a typical encounter between these 2 evenly matched teams, a tight first half saw scores being exchanged at both ends of the pitch. St Vincents/Curraha were first to register with a Conor Moriarty point following good work from James Gibney. St Michaels replied immediately with a well worked score, moving at speed up the field to eventually raise a white flag. Both sides continued to trade scores with Sean Moore being unlucky not to find the net following a brilliant save from the Michaels keeper. Michaels continued to pressurise the away defence and after 20 minutes were 2 points to the good on a 0-5 to 0-3 scoreline.
However, St Vincents/Curraha kept in touch with fine runs from Conor Moriarty and Sean Keogh yielding scores. Sean Moore and Andrew Battersby were causing the Michaels defence all sorts of problems with the latter unleashing a fine shot which was tipped over by the keeper. Both sides greeted the half-time whistle, after a very evenly contested first half, with the scoreline level at 0-7 apeice.
With all to play for the second half, the game restarted with both sides determined to gain the upper hand. Conor Moriarty slotted over an early free and with midfielder Brian Joyce now dominating midfield, ably assisted by Kevin Laffey and centre back Ryan Hand, St Vincents/Curraha got the much needed breakthrough.
After a great build-up involving Conor O'Farrell and substitute Ian Battersby, the ball found its way to Conor Moriarty in the Michaels square and he made no mistake in dispatching to the net, to give the visitors the upper hand. Disaster then struck for St Vincents/Curraha when goalkeeper Luke McCarthy injured his shoulder and was unable to continue. Sean Moore took up the goalkeeping duties and substitute Nigy Hand was brought on. Almost straight from the resumption of the game, a well worked move from the home side resulted in a low shot just inside the far post, raising a green flag for Michaels.
St Vincents/Curraha didn't panic and Niall Murphy and Ryan Hand produced some great defending and inspirational runs out of defence. With the game on a knife-edge, a high ball into the Michaels defence was broken down to Nigy Hand who calmly picked his spot in the bottom right hand corner of the goal to give the Michaels keeper no chance. St Vincents/Curraha now piled on the pressure and how Andrew Battersby was not awarded a penalty following a Michaels challange was a mystery. With Sean Keogh producing some great late runs and scoring a superb free, St Vincents/Curraha were now 5 points to the good. A frantic last few minutes saw St Michaels push for the goal to bring themselves back into contention but a late point on the stroke of full-time was the end result.
A very sporting competitive game ended on a scoreline of St Vincents/Curraha 2-11, St Michaels 1-10.
St Vincents/Curraha team: Luke McCarthy, Mark Phelan, Niall Murphy, Andrew Moriarty, Andy McEntee, Ryan Hand, Conor O'Farrell, Brian Joyce, Kevin Laffey, Sean Keogh (0-2), Conor Moriarty (1-7), Sean Moore (0-1), Andrew Battersby (0-1), James Gibney, Adam White.
Subs: Ian Battersby for Adam White, Nigy Hand (1-0) for Luke McCarthy
Full time: St. Michaels 1-10, St. Vincents / Curraha 2-11,
St. Vincents / Curraha got their minor campaign of to a winning start in Carlanstown on Friday evening last after a very entertaining and lively match with hosts St. Michaels. The visitors were first on the scoreboard with a point in the opening minute and the opening half ebbed and flowed with both sides exchanging points to remain deadlocked at 0-7 apiece at the end of the half. Ray Reilly was top scorer for St. Michaels in that opening 30 minutes with 5 points all from play, Craig McGivern and Shane McDonnell also chipped in with one apiece.
The sides shared a point apiece in the opening 8 minutes of the second half, however St. Vincents / Curraha bagged their opening goal on 39 minutes to go 3 points up and they stretched that lead to 4 points three minutes later. Shane McDonnell gave St. Michaels a lifeline on 47 minutes when he blasted to the net from close range to reduce the deficit to a point, but the home side failed to capitalize on that score and back came St. Vincents / Curraha with their second major on 54 minutes, a brilliant save by Shane McCormack for St. Michaels a minute later kept his side in with a chance as the clock ticked down and a Ben Tobin point left his side trailing by 1-9 to 2-9 with 5 minutes of normal time remaining. The visitors however replied with two points in as many minutes and St. Michaels could only manage a further point from Matthew Halpin in the sixth minute of injury time.
St. Michaels team and scorers: Shane McCormack, Alex Farrell, Alan Reilly, Ciaran O'Reilly, Mickey Dunne, Christopher Drew, Adam O'Brien, Thomas O'Brien, Matthew Halpin 0-1, Ben Tobin 0-1, Ray Reilly 0-5, Rory O'Driscoll, Craig McGivern 0-1, Ewan Moran, Shane McDonnell 1-2. Subs: Caolan McConnell for Rory O'Driscoll, Cian Sheridan for Craig McGivern.
Referee: Seamus O'Connor.
Report and photo Pascal Reilly.
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