Dunboyne 0-13 Meath Hill 0-8

Dunboyne's Junior D team took on Meath Hill in Kilberry in the first round of the Junior D championship and followed the pattern of the club's 3 other adult teams and our Ladies senior footballers with an opening round win over Meath Hill. 

It was a first outing for manager Jim Watters and he was well supported by his son Brian and his non-stop Grandson Jamie, who gathered balls from behind the goals and kept the whole team watered during the game. Much like some of the players after the winter break the ground was heavy and there was a strong wind blowing straight down the pitch for most of the game. It was as big a crowd as this team has played in front of in 3 years with almost 35 supporters in attendance in Kilberry.

Captain Niall Watters elected to play against the wind in the first half in the full knowledge that the wind was to pick up by 2mph in the second half and it proved to be a shrewd plan.

The first half began with Dunboyne getting off to a 2 point lead early on before being pegged back to 3 points each after 15 minutes. 

The Dunboyne lads were showing some rustyness with balls being handpassed straight over the sideline and frees from the middle of the field being kicked over the sideline. Dunboyne kept in touch to trail by 7 points to 5 at half time, thanks in no small part to some great saves from Paul 'Gunner' Brady.

Dunboyne opened the second half with scores from both Mark O'Connor and Neil Hackett to reduce the deficit and with Conor Gilmartin un-erring from frees they soon took the lead. 

Joe McWeeney, Keith Doyle and Paddy Kelly all made big contributions in the second half when introduced and Joe was unlucky with a couple of goal chances. Paddy Kelly covered some ground but not as much as his dad Larry who was busy fetching balls from behind the Meath Hill goals for all of Dunboyne's 8 second half scores. 

Conor Gilmartin closed out the second half scoring with 3 frees to give Dunboyne a deserved win, while Darren Dunne had to be content with fixing divots at the clubhouse end for the closing few minutes. All round it was a good win for this team with 19 players getting a run out, the 35 minutes our returning Junior B's got will stand to them as they get to grips with the pace and skill levels at Junior D.

Dunboyne scorers: Conor Gilmartin 0.08 (0.07 frees), Neil Hackett 0.03, Mark O\'Connor and Seán Quigley 0.01 each.

Dunboyne: Paul Brady, Shane Moran, Darren Dunne, Conor Rohan, Jamie Gilmartin, Michael Reilly, Alan Watters, Niall Watters, Fergal O'Neill, Neil Hackett, Seán Moran, Seán Quigley, Niall Smyth, Mark O Connor, Conor Gilmartin. Subs: Keith Doyle for Jamie Gilmartin, Paddy Kelly for Michael Reilly, Joe McWeeney all 35 mins, Colm Ahearn for Shane Moran 50 minutes.

Meath Hill Report

Meath Hill 0-08 St. Peter's Dunboyne 0-13

Meath Hill's second team started their Junior D Championship campaign with defeat to St. Peter's Dunboyne in Kilberry on Sunday morning.

With a few injuries and the loss of a couple of players from the Intermediate clash the evening previous, the Hill found it difficult to get to grips in the opening minutes. A lot of rustiness due to the lack of football for some over the past months allowed Dunboyne to lead by two points after 7 minutes. The Hill finally got off the mark on the 9th minute through the boot of Ross McGrath. Derek McMahon quickly added a free to level the game. Dunboyne added another pointed free The Hill then hit a purple patch hitting five unanswered points through, Derek McMahon (2), Ross McGrath, Killian McNally and Sean Rooney. Some fine passing moves helped cut through the Dunboyne defence. The Hill now led 0-07 to 0-03 after 23 minutes. Dunboyne finished the stronger to half the deficit. 

Half Time: Meath Hill 0-07 St. Peter's Dunboyne 0-05

The heavy ground conditions were starting to show as the Hill men started to fade. Derek McMahon would score the Hill's last point of the game in the 39th minute. Dunboyne started to get on top in the middle third as they capitalised on some poor passing from the Meath Hill men. Dunboyne hit seven points without reply to run out comfortable winners in the end. We will hope to have a few more lads to choose from in the second round as the injury list lightens. 

Meath Hill: Martin McKenna, Cathal Marry, Graham Boylan, Hugh Sullivan, Dean Farrelly, Matthew Carolan, Michael Yorke, Sean Rooney (0-01), Tadgh Boyle, Kevin Crosby, Killian McNally (0-01), Emmet Boyle, Derek McMahon (0-04, 0-02 frees), Lee Breslin, Ross McGrath (0-02). 

Subs: Shane McCabe for Michael Yorke, Paul McMahon for Ross McGrath, Paul Gorman for Killian McNally. 

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