St. Michaels 3-14, Castletown 0-09
St. Michaels produced a powerful second half display to overcome a battling Castletown side in this opening round of the AFL in Carlanstown on Sunday morning. After a close and hard fought opening half which ended with the home side 3 points in front after Ray Reilly bagged his first of his three goals on 23 minutes.
It took Castletown just 20 seconds to have the ball traversing the St. Michaels crossbar and not even a minute had elapsed before they had their second minor on the board. St. Michaels composed themselves and within two minutes Davy Lynch had the teams on level terms with two good efforts from play. The home side had the better of the exchanges in the following 10 minutes but had only two points to show for it, a converted free from Ciaran Lynch and an Oran Meehan point from play. Castletown followed with two points on the trot to level the match for a second time on 17 minutes.
The visitors went one ahead before a great move by Meehan and Felim O'Reilly put Ray Reilly through for the first of his goals. Shane McDonnell and Ciaran Lynch fired over one apiece to put 4 points between the sides entering the final five minutes of the half. Castletown added a further two points but the hard working J.B. O'Reilly pulled one back in the first minute of injury time for a 1-07 to 0-07 half time lead. St. Michaels were quickly into their stride again after the sides switched ends as Felim O'Reilly popped one over on 30 seconds after receiving from Peter O'Connell.
The St. Michaels lead was extended when on 32 minutes Ray Reilly gathered and burst through the Castletown defence before firmly planting the ball out of the reach of the Castletown 'keeper for a 2-8 to 0-7 lead. Ciaran Lynch split the posts twice from frees before Oran Meehan got his marching orders on 42 minutes. Ray Reilly deservedly made his hat-trick on 36 minutes. Castletown added their opening point of the half on 38 minutes and failed to score again until the 60th minute by which time St. Michaels were home and hosed. Points from Ciaran Lynch (2), Felim O'Reilly (1) and Shane McDonnell (1) completed the scoring for the home side. This was a good team performance from the lads and a great start to this years campaign, well done.
St. Michaels team and scorers: Darren O'Connell; Alan Reilly, Jamie Reilly, Mark Stafford; Christopher Drew, Matthew Halpin, Ronan Cassidy; Peter O'Connell, Felim O'Reilly 0-2; J.B. O'Reilly 0-1, Ciaran Lynch 0-6, Davy Lynch 0-2; Ray Reilly 3-0, Oran Meehan 0-1, Shane McDonnell 0-2. Subs: Ronan Lynch for Ray Reilly 47 minutes, Adam O'Brien for Mark Stafford 49 minutes, Shane McCormack for Davy Lynch 55 minutes. Referee: Martin Griffin.
Report and photo Pascal Reilly
St. Michael's 3-14 Castletown 0-9
Castletown started this game on the front foot and scored the first two points with Kevin Ross opening the score from play with 20 seconds gone and a Darren Finney free in the second minute. Then St.Michaels got to grips around the mid section and scored 4 in a row and Castletown didn't score again until the 15th minute from Ross and Tommy Smith levelled matters on 18 minutes. A point from play for Robbie Hoey on 23 minute's left Castletown a point to the good. But that was as good as it got for the visitors. A goal and two points in the space of two minutes on the 24th and 25th for the home side left Castletown chasing the game with two more points from Finney on 26 and 29 minutes and St.Michaels last score of the half on 32 minutes left it 1-7 to 0-7 at halftime.
With 5 minutes gone in the second half St.Michaels were 8 point clear with a goal and two points on the board. Castletown only scored twice in the second half both from Kevin Ross on 9 and 30 minutes. With the eventual winners scoring 1-5 from the 5th to the 24th minutes there was never a way back for Castletown.
Castletown team: Johnny Ginnitty, Joey Carry, Ross Blaney, Johnny Metry, Noel Smyth, Gerry Farrelly, Wayne Donegan, Robbie Hoey 0-1, Damien Ginnitty, Stephen Duffy, Kevin Ross 0-4, Mark Kelly, Tommy Smith 0-1 , Shane Hoey, Darren Finney 0-3.
Subs: Jamie Mc Mahon for M.Kelly, Francis Hoey for D.Ginnitty, William Bellew for N.Smyth, Shane Farrelly for W.Donegan, Barry Smith for T.Smith 54mins.
Next up for Castletown is a home match against Ratoath in Rnd 2 of A-league Div 2 on Friday night at 8pm.
Report from Pat Mc Mahon PRO Castletown GFC.
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