Sheelan Cup Roundup: Geraldines and Gaels play out entertaining draw

GERALDINES 1-10 DUNDALK GAELS 0-13       

Geraldines and Dundalk Gaels played out an entertaining draw in Group A of the Paddy Sheelan Cup at Haggardstown on Friday night.

A late pointed free from Jim McEneaney ensured the hosts opened their campaign with a point and in the process denied the Dundalk men their second win of the competition.

Fresh from their victory over St Josephs on the opening day, the Gers were in confident mood in the opening half and points from Dylan McKeown and Thomas O’Connell helped them take a 0-9 to 0-7 lead into the break.

The visitors remained in control in the second half and looked to be on course for victory, however, the Gers saw McEneaney score the only goal of the contest from a penalty along with a point from sub Paddy Hoey to keep his side in touch.

Dylan McKeown continued his fine early season form as he top scored for the Gaels but it wasn’t enough to hold out for victory as McEneaney struck late on to level matters.

GERALDINES: Conor Rafferty; Jack Traynor, Gareth Neacy 0-1, Paul Clarke; Paul Smith 0-1, Matt Corcoran, Thomas McNamara; Michael Rogers 0-1, John McCrohan; Eoin McDonnell, Brian Cafferty 0-1, David O’Connell 0-1; Niall Brennan, Jim McEneaney 1-4, Jamie Callan. Subs: Paddy Hoey 0-1 for N Brennan, Kevin Pepper for D O’Connell, Tiarnan Hand for P Clarke, James Craven for E McDonnell.

DUNDALK GAELS: Adrian Rafferty; Mark Hanna, Oisin Murray, Kyle Rafferty; David McComish, Gary Shevlin, Barry Watters; Sean Murray, Jordan Keating; Cian Walsh, Dylan McKeown (0-8, 7f), Liam O'Connor; Thomas O'Connell (0-3), Tomas Kavanagh, John O'Hare (0-2). Subs: Tom McDonagh for D McComish, Aaron Culligan for J O'Hare,  Ryan Coleman for T Kavanagh.

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ST MARYS 1-11 COOLEY KICKHAMS 1-5

County champions, St Mary’s made a winning start to the new season as they proved too strong for Cooley Kickhams in this Paddy Sheelan Cup Group F encounter on Saturday night.

The game at Fr McEvoy Park saw the visitors have the edge throughout with a goal from Tiarnan Corrigan helping them to a deserved victory. There was little between the teams in the opening period but it was the hosts who edged ahead at the break when a goal from James O’Reilly saw them lead by 1-3 to 0-5.

The Ardee side began to find their rhythm in the second half and saw Ronan Carroll and Paudy Clark end the game with three points apiece, while Corrigan’s goal ensured his team made the trip home with full points.

ST MARYS: Gain Douglas; Jay Crawley, Conor Keenan, Ben Clarke; Kian Moran 0-1, Evan Malone, Carl Gillespie 0-1; Robbie Leavy, Ryan Rooney 0-1; Conor Gillespie, Tiarnan Corrigan 1-2, Cillian Rooney; Dean Matthews, Ronan Carroll 0-3, Paudy Clarke 0-3. Subs: Darragh McCoy, Richard Rogers, Michael Szostakowski, Caolan O’Callaghan, Craig Keenan, Nathan Carroll.

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Cian Rogan; Ronan McBride, Ian Arnold; James O’Reilly 1-1, Gerry Malone, Patrick Hanlon 0-1; Richard Brennan, Darren Marks; Michael Carron, Patrick Johnson, Sean White; Sean Hoey 0-1, Michael Rafferty, Brian Boyle 0-2. Subs: Eddie Kirwan, Thomas McCarragher, Cormac McGlynn, Declan Sheelan, Ciaran Murphy, Joseph Quinn.

CLAN NA GAEL 2-5 ST BRIDES 0-11

St Brides and Clan na Gael played out an entertaining draw in their Saturday night Sheelan Cup Group D encounter at Clan na Gael Park. In the closely played affair, the hosts went in at the break leading 1-4 to 0-6.

The second half followed much the same as the first half but with the help of points from top-scorer, Sean Marry, the Brides appeared destined for the win. However a second Clans goal meant both sides shared the points. Ciaran O’Connor and Mark McGeown found the net for the Dundalk men

St Brides now play St Patricks in the final round where the winners will top the group and advance to the quarter final stage.

CLAN NA GAEL: Sean Smith; Jack Callan, Gerry Curran, Brian McDonnell; Paul Crewe, Paul Gartland, Craig Long; Conor Noonan, Shane Carroll; John Byrne, Mark McGeown, Mark Lee; Robbie Curran, Ciaran O’Connor, Jason Cullen.

ST BRIDES: Aaron Devin; Paraic Mackin, Daniel McArdle, Stephen Hoey; Michael Keane (0-1), Andrew Smyth, Brian Faul; Bernard Laverty (0-1), Cillian Kirk (0-1); Neil Thornton (0-1), Jake McNamara (0-1), Ross Murnaghan; Nathan Kirk (0-1), Sean Marry (0-4), Paraic Rutledge. Subs: Kelvin Slowey, Aodhan Fitzpatrick, Barry Kehoe (0-1), Ronan Bailey.

 
MATTOCK RANGERS 1-8 DREADNOTS 0-6

Mattock Rangers once again rallied from behind to pick up another Paddy Sheelan Cup victory on home soil in Collon on Sunday morning. Behind 0-4 to 0-1 thanks to Darragh Shevlin’s accuracy from frees, Oisín McKenna swung the game back in the hosts favour with a well taken major.

From that point onwards, Cathal Fleming ensured Rangers were in control. In their first outing of the year the Clogherhead men blooded a number of last season's talented minor crop.
 
MATTOCK RANGERS: Stephen Smith; Ben Markey. Eoin McCluskey, Darren Henry; Ronán Kilbane, Pauric Bannon, James Caraher; Jason Condon, Cillian Hickey; Jack Thompson, Seán Clarke, Adam Flynn; Oisín McKenna 1-1, Ryan Leneghan, Cathal Fleming 0-7. SUBS: Robert Holmes, Brendan Leacy, Aaron O’Brien, Alan Caraher, Ben McKenna, Adrian Reid, Ben Quaile.

DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham; Alex Bolger, Pop Rath, Joshua Kirwan; Ciaran Finnegan, Barry Faulkner, Aaron Scullion; David O’Brien 0-1 Cian McEvoy; Conor Shevlin, Conor Faulkner, Darragh Shevlin 0-4; Sam Reilly, Craig Shevlin 0-1, Fergus Brown. SUBS:  Callum Skinnader for Reilly, Gustas Kastautaite for Alex Bolger.

REFEREE: Paul Burke (Glen Emmets)

LANN LÉIRE 4-9 O’CONNELLS 0-9

LannLéire got their first win of the 2023 season when they had four goals to spare over O’Connells at The Grove on Sunday morning. Robert Quigley twice kept tabs on the Dunleer men before their first goal of the game. Pierce Hawkins fired a bullet of a shot from a fair distance out to the top corner of the net.

Bob Murphy doubled the lead to make it 2-6 to 0-5 at half time. Cillian Gregory and Quigley kept the scoreboard ticking but goals from Darragh Malone and Kyle Van Rhijn ensured the local bragging rights for the visitors.

LANNLÉIRE: Jimmy Kearney; Alex Carroll, Laurence McEntee, Jason Torris; Cathal McEvoy, Thomas Doyle, Kyle Van Rhijn 1-0; Paul Callan 0-3(2f), Pierce Hawkins 1-0; Caoimhin Maher, Ian Mulroy, Killian Gregory 0-5(1m); Luke Boylan, Bob Murphy 1-0, Darragh Malone 1-1. SUBS: Cian Kearney for McEvoy;  Ciaran Dunne for Boylan;  Conor Dunne for Malone

O’CONNELLS: John Brennan; Jack McGeough, David Hoey, Tadhg Kearney; Cian O’Dwyer, Ciaran O’Brien, Nathan Carragher; Cian Geeney, Sean Cairns; Cailum Woods, Stuart Osborne, Robert Quigley 0-7(2f); Emmet Byrne, Bernard Osborne 0-2, Conor Byrne. Subs Conor Kiernan for Geeney, Evan Kearney for O’Brien,TJ Conlon for Kearney, Cian Geeney for O’Dwyer, Cathal O’Brien for C Woods, Jake Kearney for McGeough.

REFEREE: David J McArdle (St.Brides)

NAOMH MAIRTIN 1-14 SEAN O’MAHONY’S 0-3

Declan McCoy’s Naomh Martin have hit the ground running this season with two wins on the trot with an impressive showing against Sean O’Mahony’s. Despite three Paddy Sheelan Cup debutants in the starting line-up, O’Mahony’s rookies could not be apportioned any of the blame.

In stark contrast, the Monasterboice men relied on the trusty left boot of Conor Whelan to provide some daylight between the sides and Craig Lynch coming off the bench to raise the white flag.

NAOMH MAIRTIN: Joe Gordon; Tadhg O’Brien, Thom Sullivan, Sean Healy; Evan Whelan, Jack Murphy 0-1, Paul Murphy; Val Leddy, Wayne Campbell 0-2; Stephen Campbell, Ben Callanan 0-1, Joe McGrane; Thomas Clarke, Jack Lynch 0-2; Conor Whelan 0-6. SUBS: Craig Lynch 0-1, Oisin Gray 0-1, Adam Booth, Jake Neilon, Daniel Harmon.

REFEREE: Thomas Carr (Newtown Blues)

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ST.MOCHTA’S 0-16 DUNDALK YOUNG IRELANDS 1-8

The home side made it two wins out of two in Louth village as St Mochta’s took care of Dundalk Young Irelands in their first bow of 2023.

All three of the Irelanders full forward line found the target in the first half but Sean Flynn cancelled them out along with Jamie Farrell and three Declan Byrne points to lead 0-7 to 0-4 at half time.

With the first score of the second half Brendan Pendergast levelled the game with a goal, but the hosts rallied and the returning Philly Englishby clipped over a point in a strong winning finale.

ST MOCHTA’S: Liam Kindlon; Liam Lawlor, Andrew English, Ryan Cash; Barry Mulholland, Conor Garland, Oisín Callan; Sean Flynn 0-3 (1f), Danny Kindlon 0-2; Jamie Farrell 0-2, Eamonn O’Neill, Gerry Garland; Cormac Smyth 0-2 Declan Byrne 0-6 (3f), Gavyn Short. SUBS: Andrew Lennon, Philip Englishby 0-1, David Lennon, Jake Mason, Justin McCooey, Josh Martin, Rian Colgan.

DUNDALK YOUNG IRELANDS: Fergal Sheekey; Peter McCourt, Ciaran Murray, Conn O’Donoghue 0-1, Liam McStravick 0-1, Cian O Naraigh, Jamie Browne; Jordan O’Donoghue 0-1, Sean Murphy; Cian O’Donoghue, Dermot Mone 0-1, Jack McArdle; Derek Maguire 0-1, Dean Maguire 0-1, Caolan McCabe 0-1. SUBS: Lee O’Donoghue, Brendan Pendergast 1-0, Paddy O’Callaghan, Sean Byrne, Stephen Bellew 0-1, Ryan McGinley.

REF: Gerard Corrigan (Mattock Rangers)