Louth GAA club | Fechins defeat Moninne by the narrowest of margins

Louth Senior Hurling League

Almost three weeks after denying the Fechins a five-in-a-row with the most dramatic of victories in the Louth Senior Championship final, Naomh Moninne lost out to the same opponents by the narrowest of margins in this opening round fixture of the senior league in Toberona last Thursday night.

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Moninne struggled in the opening exchanges, and a brace of points apiece from David Stephenson and Sean Kerrisk alongside one from Peter Fortune had them trailing by 0-5 to 0-2 on the quarter hour. Mark Gahan and Eoin Murphy accounted for the Dundalk side's points.

The Fechins extended their lead to five points, which included two more from David Stephenson, before points from Aaron McGuinness Smith and a Michael O'Shea free cut the deficit.

A fifth point of the half from Stephenson and another from Daragh Stone had the visitors leading by 0-10 to 0-5 at the break.

The opening ten minutes of the second half saw the sides share six points, with the hard-working Michael O'Shea grabbing another brace for the home side.

John Casey and Ciarán Brennan then exchanged good points from play before further points from Conor Murphy and Tom O'Dwyer had Moninne trailing by just three, 0-14 to 0-11, with ten minutes remaining.

Brennan fired over the Fechins' last point and over the closing minutes in the fading light, the home side struck over unanswered points from Aaron McGuinness Smith, O'Shea, and Conor Murphy to leave just one between the teams.

Moninne had late chances to force at least a draw, but the final whistle confirmed this narrow victory for St Fechins.

St. Fechins: Dan O'Neill; Conor Higgins, Paddy McCarthy, Cormac McAuley; Oisin Byrne, Donal Ryan, Cathal Moynagh; David Stephenson (0-7), Seán Hodgins; Peter Fortune (0-1), Ciarán Brennan (0-2), Seán Kerrisk (0-4); Daragh O Gorman, Seán Conneely, Daragh Stone (0-1).

Sub: Micháel Byrne.

Naomh Moninne: Conor Whyte, Cathal Azzopardi, Darren O Hanrahan, Kyle Rafferty; Seán Magill, Gavin Baxter, James Murphy; Mark Gahan (0-1), Michael O'Shea (0-4); Aaron McGuinness-Smith (0-2), Tom O'Dwyer (0-1), John Casey (0-1); Conor Murphy (0-2), Eoin Murphy (0-3), Coran Trainor.

Subs: Mattie Fee for C Trainor,  James Byrne for E Murphy, Paul Challoner for K Rafferty.

Referee: Declan Carolan.