Division 1 Roundup: Another Jocks wins sees them take control at the top

HOLLYWOOD DEVELOPMENTS DIVISION 1

NAOMH MAIRTIN 2-13 GERALDINES 0-11

Naomh Mairtin continued their fine start to the season when they proved too strong for Geraldines at Monasterboice on Saturday night.

Both teams went into this clash on the back of three successive victories to open their Division 1 season but it was the Martins who had the extra gear coming down the home straight, as they eventually emerged with an eight-point victory.

The game appeared to be going according to the form book in the opening period as the teams traded points throughout. And when the half time whistle sounded, the hosts held a slender one-point lead.

More of the same was expected in the second half but the Martins quickly took control as the Gers challenge faded despite the best efforts of Beanón Corrigan who weighed in with six points.

Substitute, Craig Lynch, struck the first major blow of the game when he flicked home the opening goal to put his side in charge. The Jocks never looked like surrendering that lead and they secured a deserved victory when Tom Gray added a second goal.

NH MAIRTIN: Joe Gordon; Tadhg O’Brien, Tom Sullivan, Paul Murphy; Evan Whelan (0-1), Sean Healy, Jack Murphy (0-1); Wayne Campbell, Dara McDonnell; Tom Gray (1-3), Val Leddy (0-1), Craig Callanan; Daragh Dorian (0-1), Conor Whelan (0-5), Stephen Campbell. Subs: Conor Healy for P Murphy, Joe McGrane for C Callanan, Craig Lynch (1-1) for D Dorian, Conor Smyth for J Murphy, Cathal Dorian for E Whelan.

GERALDINES: Conor Rafferty; Tom Cunniffe, Jack Traynor, Paul Clarke; Jamie Callan, Ryan Brennan, Thomas McNamara; Michael Rogers (0-1), John McCrohan; Ben Gartlan, Brian Cafferty, Eoin McDonnell; Shane O’Hanlon (0-1), Beanón Corrigan (0-6), Paul Smith. Subs: Kevin Pepper (0-3), Dara O'Gradaigh, Neil Gartlan, Paddy Hoey. 

ST MOCHTAS 1-15 ST PATRICKS 0-10

St Mochtas maintained their fine start to the league season when they had eight points to spare over St Patricks in Louth Village on Saturday night.

After a closely contested opening period, the hosts dominated the second half to come out on top with Conor Garland scoring the only goal of the game to seal the win.

The visitors went into the game hoping to build on their victory over Newtown Blues the previous week and matched their opponents in the opening half.

Cormac Smyth was again in impressive form for the Mochtas to help them lead by 0-7 to 0-6 at the break, with Cathal Grogan and Aidan McCann among those on target for the Pats.

That was really as good as it got for the peninsula side as the Mochtas stretched the lead early in the second half before Garland pounced in the 38th minute to score the only goal of the game.

The hosts were comfortable for the remainder of the contest and held out for a deserved win in which Jamie Farrell, Sean Flynn and Andy English also contributed scores.

ST MOCHTAS: Jason Callan; Liam Lawlor, Ben Goss Kieran, Andy Lennon; Oisín Callan, Darren McMahon, Andy English (0-1); Sean Flynn (0-2), Danny Kindlon; Conor Garland (1-0), Phily Englishby (0-1), Gerry Garland; Cormac Smyth (0-8), Liam O’Flaherty, Jamie Farrell (0-3). Subs: David Lennon for P Englishby, Gavyn Short for L O’Flaherty, Justin McCooey for G Garland.

ST PATRICKS: Martin McEneaney (0-1); Barry Dunne, Kevin Toner, Cillian White; Conor Grogan, Darren O’Hanlon, Aidan McCann (0-1); Joe Connor, Dessie Finengan; Padraig Duffy (0-1), Adam Finnegan, Tadhg O’Connor (0-2); Jack Murphy (0-1), Cathal Grogan (0-4), Sean Fearon. Subs: Jason Woods for D Finnegan, Tom McCann for P Duffy, Shane Murphy for J Murphy, Dylan O’Shaughnessy for D O’Hanlon.

DREADNOTS 1-10 ST BRIDES 0-12

For the second weekend in a row, St Brides threw away a good lead and were beaten with the last kick of the ball in stoppage time at Knockbridge.

The hosts were the better side in the first half and were two points up at half time. But they should have been further ahead as they had a Kieran McArdle penalty saved and Dreadnots had two late points before the short whistle blast to cut the hosts’ lead to 0-7 0-5

The visitors came back into it in the second half and scored the only goal of the match on 37 minutes. This came from the boot of Pepe Smith to give his side the lead for the first time.

Both sides exchanged minors for the rest of the match and the highlight of these were long range efforts from the Clogherhead number 10 Jay Hughes.

With time up both sides were level, but substitute Cathal Lynch fired over a long range effort to break the home side's hearts for the second week in a row.

ST BRIDES: Aaron Devin; Paraic Mackin, Ronan Bailey, Stephen Hoey; Sean Brennan, Cillian Kirk, Andrew Smyth (0-1); Patrick Reilly (0-1), Bernard Laverty (0-1); Sean Brennan (0-1), Ciaran Deane (0-2), Daniel Mc Ardle; Nathan Kirk, Neil Thornton (0-1), Kieran McArdle (0-5). Subs: Pauraic Rutledge, James Costelloe.

DREADNOTS: Jay Hughes 0-5, Pepe Smith 1-1, Peter Kirwan 0-1, Craig Shevlin 0-1, Cathal Lynch 0-2.

ST FECHINS 2-12 SEAN O’MAHONYS 1-6

The visitors to Beaulieu headed into this match with two wins under their belt and got off to the best start from the throw in, finding the back of the net in under a minute thanks to a Thomas Rice strike.

Fechins got in the game with a point from a mark from Niall Devlin who followed this up with another one from play before a Neal Hodgins shot in the 10th minute also found its mark to bring the Fechins level.

Both sides scored a further three with Danny Burnell, John O’Connell and Joe Corrigan on target for the hosts, to send the teams in level at 1-3 to 0-6.

It was the Fechins turn to start a half with a goal when midfielder, Eoin Hackett, put the ball under the crossbar following some excellent plays up the pitch.

Niall Devlin, who was in fine scoring form, followed this up with a point from a placed ball, before the visitors responded with successive points.  

However, St Fechins took control of the game when Adam Kirwan added a second goal and there was no clawing back the lead for the O’Mahonys. A bonus for the winners was that on the night they had 10 different scorers.

ST FECHINS: Niall McDonnell; Cian Gorman, David Lally, Danny Burnell (0-1); Shane Reilly, Aaron McGlew, Neal Hodgins (0-1); Eoin Hackett (1-0), Harry Haughney (0-1); Adam Kirwan (1-0), Colm O’Neill (0-1), John O’Connell (0-1); Joe Corrigan (0-1), Brian Devlin, Niall Devlin (0-5). Subs: Eoghan Ryan for B Devlin, James McGlew (0-1) for J Corrigan, Evan Dolan for A Kirwan.

SEAN O’MAHONYS: Eddie Maguire; Robbie Galligan, Chris O’Neill, Ciaran Jameson; Conor Finan, Kian McEvoy, Sean Cassidy; Thomas Rice (1-1), Conor Martin (0-1); Brian Maguire, Stephen Kilcoyne (0-2), Kyle Carroll; Tiarnan Cassidy, Terry Kelly (0-1), Conor Mackin. Subs: Oisin Breen for K Carroll, Robbie Clarke for Conor Finan, Keith McLaughlin for C Martin, Colin Finan for C Jameson, Conor Martin for T Cassidy.

ST MARYS 2-19 NEWTOWN BLUES 1-8

St Marys got back to winning ways on Saturday night when they brushed aside the challenge of Newtown Blues in Newfoundwell.

After suffering the disappointment of losing out to Nh Mairtin in the previous round, the Ardee side made the perfect response as they ran out comfortable winners.

For the Blues, it was another disappointing outing in a difficult start to the season, but on the night they had little answer to the scoring power of the visitors, with Ronan Carroll once again in excellent form as he finished with 2-4 to his name.

The Marys looked to be in a groove from the opening whistle and with Jonathan Commins and Carl Gillespie among the scores they quickly took control on the scoreboard. Before the break, Carroll got in for his first goal to give the visitors a commanding 1-11 to 0-1 advantage.

It was always going to be difficult for the Blues in the second period, although they did turn in an improved performance and managed to raise a green flag through Decky McNamara. However, the Marys were never in any trouble and sealed the win with Carroll’s second three-pointer.

ST MARYS: James McGillick; Ben Clarke, Tiarnan Corrigan, Carl Gillespie (0-4); Kian Moran, Johnny Commins (0-5), Tadhg McDonnell; Evan Malone (0-2), Cillian Keenan; Conor Gillespie, Shane Matthews (0-2), Sean Callaghan; Dean Mathews (0-1), Ronan Carroll (2-4), Ryan Rooney. Subs: Conor O’Brien for S Callaghan, Paraic McKenny (0-1) for Conor Gillespie, David Rooney for B Clarke, Gavin Douglas for J McGillick, Cian Commins for J Commins.

NEWTOWN BLUES: Johnny Clear; Joe Harte, Evin McConnon, Timas Kokotkinas; Stephen Kerr Rafferty, Alan Connor, Cathal Broderick; Andy McDonnell (0-1), Conor Branigan; Conor McNamra, Iollain Farrell (0-1), Zach Levins; Johnny McDonnell (0-1), Emmet Murray (0-1), Decky McNamara (1-1). Sub: Fergal Donoghue (0-1).

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MATTOCK RANGERS 2-11 O’RAGHALLAIGH’S 1-10

High drama in Collon as 13 men Mattock Rangers edged winless O’Raghallaigh’s in a pulsating finale to a hard fought Division 1 game. Ben Rogan had a mark to level the game, but his effort tailed wide and from that resultant kick out Alan Caraher found the net in the last play of the game.

The scoreline might be perhaps misleading, but O’Raghallaigh’s will rue a glorious chance to pick up their first point of the season.

With Mattock leading at half time 1-5 to 0-5 thanks to an early Oisín McKenna goal, the visitors stuck to their task and led shortly after the break when Ben Rogan palmed in at the back post.

Rangers, at that time had lost James Caraher and Ryan Leneghan to straight red cards. However, with two men down, Christy Grimes side kept the ball much better and came back to lead by three with points from Robert Holmes, Cathal Fleming and Aaron O’Brien. That cushion was needed ahead of the nervy finish.

MATTOCK RANGERS: Stephen Smith; Ben Markey, Cillian Hickey, Alan Caraher (1-1); Ronán Kilbane (0-2), Ryan Leneghan, Darren Henry; Aaron O’Brien (0-3), Cathal Fleming (0-2); Robert Holmes, Shane Hickey, Terry Donegan; Oisín McKenna (1-0), James Caraher, Adrian Reid. SUBS: Pauric Bannon, Eoin McCloskey, Brendan Leacy (0-1), Caolan Nulty.

O’RAGHALLAIGH’S: Conor Brown; Scott Byrne, Alan Doyle, James Morgan; Chris Smith (0-2, 0-1 free), Steven Murphy, Emmett King; Joe Meehan, Ruairi Moore (0-5); Matthew Moore, Eoin Moore (0-1), Cillian Curran; James Smith, Ben Rogan (1-2), Joe Flanagan. SUBS: Andrew Rogan for Joe Flanagan, Connell Rice for James Smith.