St. Michaels 2-14, Clann na nGael 1-4

St. Michaels got their junior championship off to an excellent start in Cortown last evening when they seen off the challenge of a gallant Clann na nGael side who had one of their players removed by ambulance to hospital with a "popped" knee at the end of the match, St. Michaels would like to wish that player a very speedy recovery.      

The early exchanges were tight and tense with both sides eager to assert their dominance in the physicality stakes. Davy Lynch got the winners off the mark with a well taken point on two minutes after good work by Ben Tobin and Kevin Cassidy but Clann na nGael responded almost immediately with their opening point. The 'Gaels hit the back of the net a minute later with a looping shot over the St. Michaels 'keeper Gavan Sweeney for a three point lead, however they failed to build on that lead and went through the next 12 minutes without raising a single flag. St. Michaels fared a little better with Shane McCormack (0-2) and Kevin Cassidy (0-1) getting on the scoreboard but they were guilty of shooting a bag full of bad wides that would have had them out of sight had they found the target. Clann na nGael closed out the half with two points, one from a free, while St. Michaels drew level from efforts from Lynch and an excellent point from corner back Daithí O'Reilly after he collected in mid-field and burst through the 'Gaels defence before swerving over the bar for the leveller on the stroke of half time to leave it St. Michaels 0-06, Clann na nGael 1-3.

Daithí Regan who came on at the break fired over his sides opener two minutes after the re-start and that set the pattern for the entire second half as all Clann na nGael had to show for their second half hours work was a single point on 35 minutes. The St. Michaels shooting improved immensely in the second half as Davy Lynch (1-2), Lee Morris (1-0), Daithi Regan (0-3), Kevin Cassidy ( 0-2) and Shane McCormack (0-1) all hit the target for a deserved victory. Others to show up well were Ben Tobin, John Farrell who caught some fine ball in mid-field, Sean Gaffney, Paddy Callaghan, Anthony and Sam Briody who was modelling his bronzed legs in his first game back after his stint down under.                                                                                                                                         

St. Michaels team & scorers: Gavan Sweeney; Sean Gaffney, Paddy Callaghan, Daithí O'Reilly (0-1); Thomas O'Brien, Sam Briody, Anthony Briody; Shane McCormack (0-3), John Farrell; Ben Reilly, Davy Lynch (1-4), Kevin Cassidy (0-3); Ben Tobin, Lee Morris (1-0), Rory O'Driscoll.                                               

Subs: Daithí Regan (0-3) for O'Driscoll, Ronan Farrell for Morris, Ben Farrell for Reilly, Barry McBrearty for Cassidy, Adam O'Brien for Gaffney.

Report and photo Pascal Reilly.

 

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