Former Meath stars Graham Geraghty and Daithi Regan crossed swords as Clann Na nGael came out on top in this well contested Meath Junior C football championship Group A game at Kilmainham.

Clann na nGael 4-14  St Michaels 1-15

With 6 minutes left in the first half Clann na nGael were behind 8 points to 4 and looking in real trouble but the switching of Graham Geraghty out to midfield along with goals from Padraig Gilsenan and Michael Priest left the Athboy/Rathcairn combination going in at the break 2-6 to 0-8 in front.

The second half saw the introduction Daithi Regan for St Michaels and he had an immediate impact as the Michaels cut the lead back to 2 points. 

Kevin Tiernan dominated at midfield for Clann na nGael with some very strong runs at the Michaels rearguard and when Michael Priest got his second goal Clann na nGael were safe. A late Ryan McManus goal for the winners did not reflect on what had been a well contested and close contest. 

Best for Clann na nGael were Conor Hayes who scored 8 points from play, Kevin Tiernan, Michael Priest who scored 2-2 and a young man called Graham Geraghty who showed plenty of promise.

Clann na nGael: A Ryan; T Whelehan, C Smith, A Doherty; R McManus, P Garry, S Reilly; L Swaine, K Tiernan; C Hayes, M Priest,  Sheridan; P Gilsenan, M Priest, G Geraghty. Subs: A Swaine, C Fitzsimons, S Fitzsimons.

St. Michaels Report

St. Michaels 1-15  Clann na nGael 4-14

Half time substitute Daithi Regan ended up top scorer for St. Michaels as his side went down to Clann na nGael in this JFC C match on Kilmainham's well manicured pitch last evening.

The winners made a good start and opened their scoring with a point in the opening minute but both teams missed several good scoring opportunities as they found scores hard to come by for the remainder of the opening quarter with the winners recording just two points and St. Michaels doing a shade better with Paddy Clarke, Kevin Cassidy (3), Adam O'Brien and Ben Reilly sending over to lead by 0-6 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. Ben Farrell stretched that lead with a converted free which was soon cancelled out by Clann na nGael. Lee Morris put five points between the sides with six minutes of the opening half remaining, however Clann na nGael found their rhythm and fired home 2-3 without reply in a five minute spell to lead by four at the break, 2-6 to 0-8.   

Veteran substitute Regan opened the second half scoring with a point after 90 seconds but he could do nothing at the opposite end of the field where his side struggled to contain Clann na nGael's long ball into their forwards which resulted in the Gael's firing over 5 unanswered points in a nine minute spell. Although Regan fired to the back of the net at the end of the third quarter and added two further points and a point from Daithi O'Reilly which reduced the deficit to four points, but it was all in vain as the Athboy side went on another scoring spree with a further tally of 2-3 to close out the match. Lee Morris, Cassidy and Regan closed out the scoring for St. Michaels.                                                                                                                                             

St. Michaels: Gavan Sweeney; Harry Dunne, Paddy Callaghan, John Hand; Thomas O'Brien, Daithi O'Reilly (0-1); Adam O'Brien (0-1); Felim O'Reilly, Mark Stafford; Ben Reilly (0-1), Paddy Clarke (0-1), Kevin Cassidy (0-4); Ben Farrell (0-1), Lee Morris (0-2), Rory O'Driscoll. Subs: Daithi Regan (1-4) for O'Driscoll 30 minutes, Alex Farrell for Hand 30 minutes, Jamie Farrelly for Stafford 47 minutes, Jason O'Donnell for F. O'Reilly 60 minutes.            

Referee: Paul Mooney

Report and photo: Pascal Reilly PRO.

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