Division 1 Reports: Naomh Mairtin back at the top following huge victory

HOLLYWOOD DEVELOPMENTS DIVISION 1 ROUND 9

ST MARYS 1-15 SEAN O’MAHONYS 1-10

St Mary’s got back to winning ways last Friday night as they proved too strong for Sean O’Mahony’s in this Division 1 clash at Pairc Mhuire.

The Ardee men suffered a surprise defeat to St Patricks last time out but made amends this time against an understrength O’Mahony’s to record a five-point win.

Having held Naomh Mairtin to a draw in their previous outing the Dundalk men travelled with some confidence, but despite a brave effort they were unable to take anything from the game.

With the wind on their backs in the first half, the lads from the Quay stayed in the game thanks to three points each from Terry Kelly and Thomas Rice. However, the hosts had the edge throughout and a goal from Jonathan Commins ensured they went in at the break with a 1-7 to 0-6 lead.

An early second half goal rifled into the top of the net by Terry Kelly lifted the Dundalk side's spirits, but the home side kicked some lovely long-range points with the aid of the breeze to run out winners.

On the night, Commins, Darren Clarke, Carl Gillespie and Ronan Carroll all contributed important scores for the Marys.

ST MARYS: James McGillick; Jay Crawley 0-1, Tiarnan Corrigan, Carl Gillespie 0-2; Paraic McKenny Johnny Commins 1-3, Tadhg McDonnell 0-1; Cillian Keenan, Sean Callaghan 0-1; Conor Gillespie, Ryan Rooney, Dean Matthews; Shane Matthews 0-1, Ronan Carroll 0-2, Darren Clarke 0-3. Subs: Paudy Clarke for C Keenan, Kian Moran 0-1 for R Rooney.

SEAN O’MAHONYS: Eddie Maguire; Ciaran Finan, Sean Cassidy, Robbie Galligan; Oisin Breen, Gary Cawley, Robbie Clarke; Conor Martin, Gareth Hall; Kyle Carroll, Thomas Rice 0-3, Tiernan Cassidy; Terry Kelly 1-7, Junior Shotayo, Ben McLaughlin. Sub: Mark Traynor.

ST PATRICKS 1-14 GERALDINES 0-7

St Patricks saw their good run of form continue on Saturday evening when they proved too strong for the Geraldines in Haggardstown.

After a close first half, the peninsula side upped the pace in the second half and always looked to be on course for a victory that was sealed by a late Tadhg O’Connor goal.

With confidence high after their win over St Marys the previous week, St Pats came flying out of the blocks and inside 13 minutes they had points from Jason Woods (3), Cathal Grogan and Darren Connor before the Gers got off the mark.

The visitors appeared to be cruising when Grogan added a sixth, but the hosts struck the last three points of the half to cut the gap to 0-6 to 0-4.

The Pats responded to the challenge after the restart as scores from Tadhg O’Connor, Martin McEneaney, Danny O’Connor and Woods helped them lead by 0-11 to 0-5 after 50 minutes.

The Gers hit back with two points, but the revival was short-lived as the visitors hit the next three points before O’Connor fired in the only goal of the game in injury-time.

ST PATRICKS: Martin McEneaney 0-2; Daniel Tumilty, Kevin Toner, Ruairi O’Hagan; Conor Grogan, Barry Dunne, Joseph Connor; Ciaran Murphy, Martin Breen; Darren Connor 0-2, Cathal Grogan 0-2, Tadhg O’Connor 1-1; Jason Woods 0-5, Shane Murphy, Sean Fearon. Subs: Danny O’Connor 0-2 for S Murphy, Adam Finnegan for S Fearon, Eoin Connor for C Murphy.

GERALDINES: Sean McEneaney; Tom Cuniffe, Jack Traynor, Paul Clarke; Dara O Gradaigh, Beanón Corrigan 0-2, Neil Gartlan; John McGrohan 0-1, Michael Rogers; Ben Gartlan, Jim McEneaney 0-1, Paddy Hoey; Jamie Callan, Shane O’Hanlon 0-3, Francis Lynch. Subs: Aaron Speight, Des Reenan, Sean Connor.

NH MAIRTIN 3-13 NEWTOWN BLUES 0-16

Naomh Mairtin bounced back from dropping their first point of the season in their last outing by getting the better of Newtown Blues at Monasterboice on Saturday night.

The Jocks were held to a draw away to the O’Mahony’s in Round 8 but made no mistake this time as they came out on top in a high-scoring encounter, which Conor Whelan top-scoring with 1-6.

After seeing his side conceded the opening two points, Conor Whelan’s goal on four minutes settled the hosts and at the end of the first quarter Stephen Campbell found the net to open up a three-point gap.

At the other end, the Blues battled to keep in touch, before late scores from Daragh Dorian and Whelan saw the Monasterboice men lead by 2-6 to 0-9 at half time.

The visitors gave themselves hope when they cut the gap to three early in the second half with the help of points from Daire Nally and Emmet Carolan. However, a stunning goal from Sean Healy on 44 minutes saw the Jocks go six clear.

Once again, the Drogheda men battled to get back in the game, but they were unable to find the goal they needed, and the hosts held out to win and secure a return to the top of the table.

NH MAIRTIN: Joe Gordon; Shane Morgan, Thomas Sullivan, Conor Healy; Conor Smyth, Sean Healy 1-0, Jack Murphy; Daire McDonnell, Wayne Campbell; Ben Callanan, Val Leddy 0-2, Daragh Dorian 0-2; Conor Whelan 1-6, Tom Gray 0-1, Stephen Campbell 1-2. Subs: Craig Callanan for B Callanan, Tadhg O’Brien for S Morgan, Mick Fanning for C Smyth, Joe McGrane for D Dorian, Oisin Gray for C Whelan.

NEWTOWN BLUES: Johnny McDonnell; John Connolly, Ciaran Cluskey Kelly, Stephen Kerr Rafferty 0-1; Ciaran McCann 0-1, Alan Connor, Iollain Farrell 0-1; Andy McDonnell 0-2, Emmet Carolan 0-3; Zach Levins, Daire Nally 0-4, Ciaran White; Declan McNamara 0-1, Evin McConnon 0-1, Conor McGuirk. Subs: Jamie Kelly 0-2 for A McDonnell, Cathal Broderick for C White.

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ST FECHINS 0-12 ST BRIDES 0-12

This mid-table clash at Beaulieu saw the teams have to settle for a draw after St Brides struck a late equaliser to claim a share of the spoils.

The home side, who welcomed back Bevan Duffy from county duty, were plagued by inaccuracy in the early part of the first half, with the Brides not having the same issues, pointing three times in the first quarter - two from frees.

Niall Devlin got Fechins first score in 17th minute from a free, but Brides continued to put pressure on the home side as they pointed twice more from play and a placed ball.

Fechins finally found their scoring boots adding four more points, including from Niall Devlin (all frees) and one from John O’Connell. The visitors added another to finish with a 0-7 to 0-5 lead at half time.

The Fechins started the second half with more determination and more importantly found their scoring boots as they quickly drew level with points from play from Brian Devlin and Bevan Duffy.

Half back, Danny Burnell finished some lovely passing play with a point of his own and Niall Devlin and Eoin Hackett widened the gap. But the visitors were not taking this lying down and secured another three, all from placed balls to bring it back to a draw heading into the final quarter.

Midfielder Jamie McDonnell got on the scoreboard with a point from play after his earlier attempt went wide of the mark, while Ronan Holcroft, back from injury, also pointed from play.

With only a two-point margin it was anyone’s game heading into the last 10 minutes and it was the Brides that made the most of the time left, capitalising on a number of poor passes to draw the game as the final whistle blew.

ST FECHINS: Niall McDonnell; Mark Holohan, Aaron McGlew, Danny Burnell 0-1; Neal Hodgins, Jamie McDonnell 0-1, Harry Haughney; Bevan Duffy 0-1, Eoin Hackett 0-1; John O’Connell 0-1, Lee Grifferty, Joe Corrigan; Brian Devlin 0-1, Ronan Holcroft 0-1, Niall Devlin 0-5. Subs: Adam Kirwan for B Devlin, Evan Dolan for L Grifferty.

ST MOCHTAS 1-12 MATTOCK RANGERS 0-9

St Mochtas kept pace at the top of Division 1 with a comfortable win over Mattock Rangers in Collon on a balmy Saturday night.

The Louth village men are one point off leaders Naomh Mairtin, before their mouth-watering clash this Wednesday night. The visitors opened up a 1-4 to no score lead after 18 minutes thanks to Ben Goss Kieran’s goal and with that they never looked back.

Mattock chipped away with points from Shane Hickey and Cathal Fleming but could not sustain the scoring rate to hunt down their opponents. With the lead, John Moylan’s side controlled themselves over the line with ease in the finish.

ST MOCHTAS: Jason Callan; Oisin Callan, Ben Goss Kierans, Liam Lawlor; Andrew Lennon, Andrew English, Conor Garland; Sean Flynn, Darren McMahon; Danny Kindlon, Jamie Farrell, Gerry Garland, Cormac Smyth, Liam O'Flaherty, Declan Byrne. SUBS: Eamon O Neill for Liam O'Flaherty, Owen Lennon for Conor Garland, Ryan Cash for Goss Kierans, Gavyn Shortt for Andrew English.

MATTOCK RANGERS: Stephen Smith; Ben Markey, Cillian Hickey, Eoin McCloskey; Caolan Nulty, Ryan Leneghan, Ronán Kilbane 0-1; Brendan Leacy. Jason Condon; Robert Holmes, Aaron O’Brien 0-1, Shane Hickey 0-2; Liam Flynn 0-2, Cathal Fleming 0-2, Oisín McKenna. SUBS: Adam Flynn, Ben McKenna 0-1.

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O RAGHALLAIGH’S 1-7 DREADNOTS 2-13

On Friday night in Pentony Park, Dreadnots continued their winning ways to provide a healthy cushion between themselves and their opponents O Raghallaigh’s at the bottom of the Division 1 table.

The winless hosts were once again on the wrong side of the result but were right back into it in the first half when Kyle McElroy found the net to make it 0-7 to 1-2 after Jay Hughes struck four points in the opening quarter.

Craig Shevlin opened and closed the half with scores, leaving only a point separating the sides. After the break the hosts went up another gear.

Substitute Conor Shevlin provided the daylight and Hughes quickly added another to make it double scores and all but seal the points early in the second half.

DREADNOTS: Dylan Cassidy; Aaron Scullion, Pop Rath, Dermot Campbell; Ciaran Finnegan 0-3, Cian McEvoy, Conor Faulkner; Darragh Shevlin, Jay Hughes 1-5; Sam Reilly, Dean Hyland 0-1, Owen Murphy 0-1; James Califf, Craig Shevlin 0-3, Peter Kirwan. SUBS: Conor Shevlin 1-0 for Sam Reilly, Carl Monaghan for Peter Kirwan, David O’Brien for Darragh Shevlin, Ciaran Cunningham for Dean Hyland.

O RAGHALLAIGH’S: Joe Flanagan; Kevin Magee Alan Doyle, Stephen Murphy; Scott Byrne, Danny Morgan, James Smith; Eoin Moore; Ruairí Moore 0-1; Cillian Curran, Kyle McElroy 1-4, Euan Sweeney; Baz Flanagan 0-1, Ben Rogan 0-1, Andrew Rogan.