St. Michaels 1-10, Dunderry 1-07

St. Michaels continue to sit pretty at the summit of division 3 after they secured their third victory in as many games in this hard fought but thrilling encounter with Dunderry in Dunderry last evening.

It was a cagey start by both sides with scores hard to come by, Shane McCormack opened the St. Michaels account with a point in the second minute, a further 10 minutes had elapsed before Ray Reilly, Oran Meehan and Johnny Reilly made it 0-4 to no score in a four minute spell. Dunderry finally broke their duck with two points in quick succession at the end of the first quarter. Thomas O'Brien and Rory O'Driscoll unselfishly linked up with the excellent Johnny Reilly who added a further three first half points as St. Michaels held the upper-hand for the remainder of the opening half. Dunderry added their last point of the half on 23 minutes to trail by 0-03 to 0-07 at the interval.

The home side reduced the deficit to two points immediately after the re-start but Oran Meehan gave St. Michaels the upper hand once again with a fine point from play. Both sides traded points at the end of the third quarter with McCormack who along with Anthony Briody put in an excellent hours work around the middle of the park was on target for the winners. Johnny Reilly who landed four points in the opening half rifled a bullet to the back of the net after total confusion reigned in the Dunderry goal-mouth for a 1-9 to 0-6 lead on 51 minutes.

Although St. Michaels held the upper-hand for the majority of the proceedings, they had to withstand a determined rally from the home side in the final ten minutes which produced a ding-dong battle as Dunderry added 1-1 after a Ronan Lynch converted free to leave just one major score between the sides with 3 minutes of normal play left on the clock, however the winners back division were resolute and their three point margin was enough to secure victory. As well as those already mentioned Daithí O'Reilly, Christopher Drew, Paddy Callaghan, Mark Stafford and Ray Reilly were others to impress for St. Michaels.

St. Michaels team and scorers: Gavin Sweeney; Alan Reilly, Mark Stafford, Daithí O'Reilly; Thomas O'Brien, Christopher Drew, Paddy Callaghan; Anthony Briody, Shane McCormack (0-2); Oran Meehan (0-2), Ronan Lynch (0-1), Barry McBrearty; Johnny Reilly (1-4), Ray Reilly (0-1), Rory O'Driscoll. Subs: Darren O'Connell for McBrearty 30min, Matthew Halpin for O'Driscoll 30min, Kevin Cassidy for A. Reilly 47min, Ben Tobin for O'Connell 50min,
Referee: Owen Ganly.

Report and photo Pascal Reilly.

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