Nobber 3-17   St Patrick’s 2-13

Nobber welcomed St Patrick’s to their home grounds in their final A league fixture of the season. The Stamullen men were fighting for promotion whilst the black and ambers were hoping to avoid the drop to Division 2B. Nobber put in a solid hard-working performance throughout the 60 minutes however it was not enough to avoid relegation as they were depending on other results.

Conditions were perfect on a lovely mild summers evening with the pitch in great condition. Nobber started brightest with a nice score by Brendan Heffernan after 28 seconds. That was backed up by a great effort by full-forward Sean Meade. St Patrick’s replied with 3 unanswered scores of their own to leave them leading by a goal after 10 minutes. Nobber upped the intensity a notch with some excellent accuracy from Sean Meade slotting a penalty low to the bottom left corner. Further scores from Meade (3), Jack Condra (1), Dale Larkin (2), and Heffernan (1) left the Deesiders leading by 6 at the half-time interval (1 – 9 v 1 – 3).

With both teams having something to play for the game proved a very entertaining affair with some end-to-end action, particularly in the second half. Both sides traded scores in the early stages of this period with the impressive wingback Dean Halpin finishing off a fine team move to leave the black and ambers leading by 8. Between the 35th and 46th minute, St Patrick’s dominated and split the posts on 5 occasions leaving only 3 between the teams leading into the final quarter. The turning point of the game proved to be when the energetic and hard-working Paul Meade made a great run up the wing and was unfortunate not to raise the white flag by hitting the post. Corner forward Joe Tierney was the fastest to react and he buried the ball into the Navan end goals. Midfielder Jack Condra made some powerful defence-splitting runs resulting in 2 impressive points.

The Deesider’s defence remained tight in the final 10 minutes with Barry Cassidy, Eanna Fagan, and Niall Farrell showing great leadership throughout. The skilful Sean Meade finished off a nice move to the net in the latter stages of the game making sure that the Nobber men were taking the 2 points on offer.

A disappointing league campaign for the North Meath men ultimately ended in relegation however some positive results towards the end of the campaign and plenty of work to improve on leading into the championship.

Nobber: Dary Hutchinson, Barry Bradley, Eanna Fagan, Barry Cassidy, Paul Meade Niall Farrell, Dean Halpin (0 – 1), Jack Condra (0 – 3), Thomas Murtagh, Kian Donohoe, Dale Larkin (0 – 3, 1F), Darragh Cassidy, Joe Tierney (1 – 0), Sean Meade (2 – 8, 5F), Brendan Heffernan (0 – 2).

Subs used: Colin Clarke, Jonny Donohoe, Jamie Duffy, Colin Condra.

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