Navan O’Mahony’s 1-11 Killary Emmets 0-11

December football on a December night is the best way to describe this opening round encounter of the U20 FC in Castletown last night. With a gale of a wind and the heavens opening, it was far from ideal conditions for Gaelic Football. The U20 competition is unique with lads who have played senior, Premier 2, Premier 7 and minor football this year with 3 2021 All Ireland medallists on the pitch.

Shortly after the throw in, half back Sam Formosa broke through from his own half towards the Castletown goal. Playing against the wind in the first half, his effort was high and stopped short before the goals, dropping in and landing in the back of the net. 

The visitors pushed on from this goal with another point coming from a defender. This time was the turn of corner-back Niall Gorman who wasted no opportunity with his time up front, raising a white flag. Within a minute of this, a foul from Castletown saw a free awarded to Brian O’Hanlon which was duly converted. 

In spite of a slow start, Killary Emmets settled into the game and took a well-taken point to put their own name on the scoreboard. Further points from both frees and play from O’Hanlon left four points between the sides at the water-break.

This lead was further extended by full forward Shane McCarthy with a point taken quickly after the water-break. O’Hanlon added another score before Killary Emmets claimed the final two scores of the half.

Half time score: Navan O’Mahony’s 1-06 Killary Emmets 0-05

A good position to be in at half time against the wind, Navan O’Mahony’s could not rest on their laurels and were up against it in the second half. The gap was narrowed to three when the Castletown/Syddan outfit converted a free. 

It was to-and-fro for a while with both sides scoring. After a pass from Jack McConnell, O’Hanlon once again extended his lead, a feat which he repeated only two minutes later. Killary Emmets showed fierce determination and pride in the jersey and were not going down without a fight. 

After a ten minute period of no scores, it was one-way traffic for a while when Killary Emmets scored four points without reply, leaving only the bare minimum between the sides approaching thirty minutes. 

Keeping a cool head, McCarthy stood up not once but twice with two excellent points from play, ensuring that only a goal would suffice for the home side. Ultimately, this goal didn’t come and it is Navan O’Mahony’s who progress.

Navan O’Mahony’s: Niall Devlin, Niall Gorman (0-01), Evan Brady, Cormac Ward, Darragh Murphy, Sam Formosa (1-0), Dan McEvoy, Louis Collins, Tom Collins, Ciaran Vaughan, Brian O’Hanlon (0-07), Jack Flynn, Ben Forde, Shane McCarthy (0-03), Jack McConnell

Fionn Fitzsimons for McConnell, Jack Boyle for Ward, Christy Dillon for Forde, Conor McEvoy for Flynn 

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