Louth GAA Division 1 roundup: Mary's beat out Pat's in entertaining win

Division 1A

Saturday 5th August Games

ST MARYS 2-12
ST PATRICKS 1-11

St Marys moved to within a point of St Patricks in third place thanks to this four-point victory over the Lordship men in Ardee on Saturday evening.

The Division 1A back fixture proved to be an entertaining affair but it was a strong first half performance that ensured the hosts came out on top.

Goals from Liam Jackson and Ryan Rooney either side of an Eoin O’Connor three-pointer helped the home side to a healthy 2-7 to 1-2 advantage at the break.

With the help of scores from Cathal Grogan, Aidan McCann and Jack Murphy, the Pats cut the gap to four points at the end of the third quarter to raise hopes taking something from the game.

However, the Marys stood strong at the back to keep the Pats at arm’s length and with Darren Clarke taking his tally to eight at the other end, the Ardee men claimed a four-point win.

ST MARYS: James McGillick; Jay Crawley, Donal McKenny, Carl Gillespie 0-1; Tadhg McDonnell 0-1, Paraic McKenny, Tiarnan Corrigan; Sean Callaghan, Conor Hennessy; Dean Matthews 0-1, Liam Jackson 1-0, Kian Moran 0-1; Ronan Carroll, Ryan Rooney 1-0, Darren Clarke 0-8. Subs: RJ Callaghan for C Hennessy, Cillian Keenan for D Matthews, Noah Coyle for R Rooney.

ST PATRICKS: Martin McEneaney 0-1; Daniel Tumilty, Darren O’Hanlon, Matt Pagni; Conor Grogan, Barry Dunne, Joseph Connor 0-1; Leonard Grey, Martin Breen; Aidan McCann 0-2, Adam Finnegan, Tadhg O’Connor 0-2; Jack Murphy 0-1, Eoin O’Connor 1-0, Cathal Grogan 0-4. Subs: Darren Connor for A Finnegan, Conor McGuinness for M Breen, Seam Fearon for Cathal Grogan.

Division 1B

NEWTOWN BLUES 4-9
DREADNOTS 1-9

Newtown Blues finished the league season on a high as they secured victory over Dreadnots to end the season on top of Division 1B

Two goals each from Robert Carr and Emmet Murray proved decisive as the Newfoundwell men continued their recent good run of form as they head into the Senior Championship in optimistic mood.

The game in Clogherhead saw the hosts take to the field with aspirations of claiming top spot but despite a strong second half display, they were unable to finish the season with a victory.

The damage was done in the opening half as the visitors struck all four goals to lead by 4-6 to 0-3 at the break.

The Dreadnots had the better of the second period and found the net through Jay Hughes but they were unable to claw back the deficit as the Blues held out for the win.

NEWTOWN BLUES: Johnny McDonnell; Joe Harte, Ciaran Cluskey Kelly, Thomas Costelloe; Alan Connor 0-1, Johnny Connolly, Ciaran Broderick; Daire Nally, Evin McConnon; Jamie Kelly 0-2, Emmet Murray 2-0, Iolan Farrell; Ciaran McGuirk, Andy McDonnell 0-4, Robert Carr 0-2. Subs: J Lowney for J McDonnell, C Farrell for C Cluskey Kelly, O Doherty for A McDonnell.

DREADNOTS: Ciaran Cunningham; Callum Skinnader, David O’Brien, Aaron Scullion; Cathal Lynch, Cian McEvoy, Ciaran Finnegan; Craig Shevlin 0-3, Darragh Shevlin; Conor Shevlin, Carl Monaghan, Owen Murphy 0-1; Sam  Reilly, Dean Hyland 0-1, Ronan Califf. Subs: Peter Kirwan for C Monaghan, Jay Hughes 1-2 for C Skinnader, Fergus Browne for Conor Shevlin, Paraic Smith for S Reilly, Anthony Williams 0-1 for D Shevlin.
 

ST FECHINS 0-12
ST BRIDES 0-11

The stakes were high in this bottom of the table clash with Fechins needing a win, while a draw or win would do the Brides to avoid a relegation play off.

At the end of a tense 60 minutes in Knockbridge, it was the visitors who prevailed by the bare minimum.

The Fechins got off to a very positive start with Paul Matthews getting the first two points followed by points from Niall Devlin (2), Colm O’Neill and Harry Haughney.

St Brides got on the scoreboard with a point from a free followed by another from Niall Devlin.

The Fechins had a comfortable lead of 0-6 to 0-1 after the first quarter, but it was the hosts’ turn to take charge of the scoreboard clocking up three points in as many minutes.

The teams exchanged points again before Brides added a final one to cut the gap to 0-7 to 0-6 at the break.

It was nip and tuck in the second half with the Brides getting the equalising point five minutes in. The teams added one more each heading into the final quarter level again before the Brides took the lead for the first time in the 17th minute.

It is safe to say the final 10 minutes was not for the faint hearted with the lead being exchanged and equalised three more times.

With the game level going into injury time it didn’t look like there would be time to change the result but a final fisted point from Eoghan Duffy was enough to secure the win and a place in Division 1 for next year.

ST FECHINS: Niall McDonnell 0-1; Cian Gorman, David Lally, Niall McCabe; Shane Reilly, Mark Holohan, Harry Haughney 0-1; Bevan Duffy 0-1, Jamie McDonnell; Danny Burnell, Lee Grifferty, Sean Kerrisk; Paul Mathews 0-2, Colm O’Neill 0-1, Niall Devlin 0-4. Subs: John O’Connell 0-1 for L Grifferty, David Collier for D Lally,  Neal Hodgins for S Reilly, Eoghan Duffy 0-1 for D Burnell, Eoin Hackett for C O’Neill.
 

SEAN O’MAHONY’S 0-11
O’RAGHALLAIGH’S 0-7

With little at stake bar pride, Sean O’Mahony’s ended O’Raghallaigh’s winless Division 1 season at home on the Point Road on Saturday night.

Both sides were far from full strength and with the Intermediate championship looming, perhaps the two camps were not showing their full hand.

On the pitch, Thomas Rice excelled again for the home side from frees to alway keep O’Mahony’s in control.

After a low scoring first half, Terry Kelly pushed the game beyond the Drogheda men with some punishing points while Kyle McElroy tried in vain for Ronan Phillips' side.

SEAN O’MAHONY’S: Eddie Maguire; Colin Finan, Cris O’Neill, Ciaran Jamieson; Seán Cassidy 0-1, Kain McEvoy, Robbie Clarke; Tiernan Cassidy 0-2, Conor Martin; Kyle Carroll, Thomas Rice 0-4, Conor Mackin; Conor Finnegan 0-1, Terry Kelly 0-3, Vinny Smith. SUBS: Conor mcGailey for Vinny Smith, Calum Smith for Robbie Clarke.

O’RAGHALLAIGH’S: Joe Flanagan; Kevin Magee, Emmett King, Daragh O’Rourke; Ewan Sweeney, Alan Doyle 0-1, Ollie Clutterbuck; Ben Sweeney 0-1, Andrew Rogan; Joe Meegan, Kyle McElroy 0-4, Evan Smith; Connel Rice, James Smith, Eoghan Moore. SUBS: Chris Smith 0-1