Louth GAA club: Division One round-up

St Josephs 3-18 Newtown Blues 1-9

The Joes playing their first Louth GAA club Division 1 league match since 2007 delivered a comprehensive win against the Blues in Cluskey Park on Saturday night.

Despite playing against the cross-field breeze the Blues had the better of the early exchanges with Alan Connor opening the scoring before Ben Collier replied with the first point of the Joes League campaign.

READ MORE: Louth GAA club: Division Two round-up

The next four points were shared before the Blues got the upper hand and it was Jack Healy who found the back of the Joes net on 16 minutes.

The teams traded points through Killian Staunton and Ross Nally to leave the visitors 1-4 to 0-4 ahead. The Joes hit three successive points before Ben Collier found the net with the final score of the half to send the hosts in with a 1-7 to 1-4 lead.

The Joes had a second goal in the first minute of the second half when Ben Collier blocked down a Blues clearance, and Oisin McGuinness responded quickest to calmly hit the net.

A well-worked score finished by Alan Quigley had the Joes lead out to seven points with just three minutes of the half gone.

The Blues fought back to cut the gap to 2-10 to 1-8 at the end of the third quarter but the Joes dominated the remainder of the game and sealed the win when Collier added his second goal of the game in the closing stages.

St. Joseph’s: Adam Cassidy, Rian Devlin, Michael Staunton, Ciaran Johnston, Michael O’Brien, David Kieran, Gabriel Bell (0-4), Killian Staunton (0-1), Conor Neary (0-2), Jack Mulligan, Ben Collier (2-1), Craig Doherty, Alan Quigley (0-3), Oisin McGuinness (1-2), Conall Smyth (0-4), Alan McKenna (0-1), Ben McKeown, Cian Sheridan.

Newtown Blues: Johnny McDonnell; Stephen Kerr Rafferty, Aidan O’Brien, Ian Connor;  Jamie Kelly, Ciaran Cluskey Kelly, Joey Nally; Alan Connor 0-2, Ryan Kelly; Eoin McCoy, Jack Healy 1-1, Eoin Brannigan 0-1; Colm Judge, Ross Nally 0-4, Niall Devlin 0-1.

(John O'Neill Sand and Gravel Division One table)

Nh Mairtin 2-11 St Marys 1-5

Nh Mairtin gave themselves the perfect start to the new season as they put one over their old foes St Marys in Pairc Mhuire on Saturday evening.

This has been the stand-out rivalry in the county over recent years and although both teams were missing players due to County commitments, the Mairtins will certainly take heart from this victory in the opening round of the Division 1 league.

Jack Murphy was the scoring hero for the Jocks as he bagged two goals to help hold off the County Champions.

Murphy’s first goal came on four minutes, shortly after Ben Callanan had opened the scoring and he added the second in the 23rd minute to ease the visitors into a 2-4 to 0-2 lead at the break.

St Marys needed a bright start to the second half and they did just that when Brian Talty hit the back of the net inside ten minutes but were denied a second goal minutes later when Darren Morgan saved from a penalty.

That proved to be the turning point as the Mairtins regained control and scores from Tom Gray, Joe McGrane and Jack Lynch saw them complete a nine-point win.

Nh Mairtin: Darren Morgan; Colm Egan, Shane Morgan 0-1, Mark Whelan; Evan Whelan, Jake Neilon, Cian Sands; Adam Booth, Joe McGrane 0-2, Jack Murphy 2-1, Eoghan Callaghan, Enda McDonnell; Ben Callanan 0-2, Tom Gray 0-3, Jack Lynch 0-2.

Subs: Sean Healy for J Neilon, Jake Neilon for A Booth, Craig Callanan for B Callanan, Paddy Usher for T Gray, Adam Callanan for J McGrane.

St Marys: James McGillick; Tiernan Corrigan, Evan Malone, David Rooney; Shane McMahon, Eimhin Keenan, Fionn Coyle; Robbie Leavy, Brian Talty 1-0; Cillian Keenan, Kian Moran, Flynn Markey 0-1; DJ Matthews, Conor Gillespie 0-3, Luke Keenan.

Subs: Jonathan Commins 0-1 for C Keenan, Ronan Carroll for S McMahon, Karl Faulkner for DJ Matthews, Darragh McCoy for F Markey, Caolan O’Callaghan for L Keenan.

(John O'Neill Sand and Gravel Division One fixtures)

Dreadnots 2-15 Cooley Kickhams 0-18

A high scoring encounter at Clogherhead on Saturday evening saw the home side claim the spoils and get their Division 1 league campaign off to the best possible start.

On a night when both teams saw players rise to the challenge posed by the two-pointer incentive with some well-taken scores, Cooley’s Cormac Malone led the way as he landed a double, while Conor Faulkner, Donnacha Skinnader and Padraic Smith found their range for the Dreadnots.

However, the night also highlighted the value of the old-fashioned goal in providing a better return as three-pointers from Callum Shevlin and Aaron Scullion tipped the balance of the game in the Dreadnots favour.

Both goals came in an opening half that saw Cooley enjoy the greater share of possession but despite points from Cian Connor, the visitors led by just 0-11 to 2-3 at the short whistle.

With the benefit of the elements, the Clogher side upped the pace and chalked up 12 second-half points to secure a three-point victory.

Dreadnots: Dylan Cassidy; Aaron Scullion 1-0, Barry Faulkner, Alex Aspell 0-2; Ciaran Finnegan 0-1, Padraig Rath, Conor Faulkner 0-3 (1 2p); Gustas Knustautaite, Darragh Shevlin; Ciaran Cunningham, Donnacha Skinnader 0-3 (1 2p), Conor Clarke; Owen Murphy, Sam Reilly 0-2, Callum Shevlin 1-0.

Subs: Padraic Smith 0-2 (1 2p) for D Shevlin, Cathal Carolan for O Murphy.

Cooley Kickhams: Niall Brady; Sean Thornton, Dean McGreehan, Sean Hoey; Ronan McBride, Patrick Hanlon, Fionn O’Reilly; Jason Brady, Darren Marks; Niall Morgan, Enda O’Neill (0-3), Cormac Malone (0-5, 2 x 2p); Cian Connor (0-6), Patrick Johnston (0-3), Calum O’Hanlon (0-1). Subs: Gerry Malone, James O’Reilly, Richard Brennan, Ian Arnold.

St Mochtas 2-13 St Patricks 0-9

St Mochtas began the Division 1 campaign with hopes of regaining the Cardinal O’Donnell Cup and they made the best possible start with a victory over St Pats in Lordship on Saturday evening.

Goals from Liam O’Flaherty and Cormac Smyth on either side of the break put the seal on what was a relatively routine victory.

It was St Mochtas who started on the front foot and had the first two points on the board inside six minutes. St Pats suggested that they would keep things tight when Conor McGuinness opened their account on 14 minutes.

However, that score seemed to spark the Louth Village side into action as they went straight up the pitch and saw Liam O’Flaherty score the first goal of the game.

His side dominated the remainder of the half and went in at the break with a very healthy 1-10 to 0-1 advantage.

The hosts rallied at the start of the second half with points from Darren Connor and Martin McEneaney along with a Jack Murphy two-pointer.

However, the Mochtas remained in control and added a second goal from Cormac Smyth to secure a comfortable win despite a late flurry from the peninsula side.

St Mochtas: Daire O’Shea; Oisin Kerr, Ben Goss Kieran, Conor Garland; Conor McKenna, Oisín Callan, Jamie Farrell 0-2; Liam Lawlor, Gerry Garland; Daniel Craven, Liam O’Flaherty 1-1, Decky Byrne 0-8; Phily Englishby 0-1, Cormac Smyth 1-0, Darragh Quinn.

Subs: Dylan Farrell for C Garland, Shane McMahon for C Smyth, Gavyn Short 0-1 for J Farrell.

St Patricks: Martin McEneaney; Darren O’Hanlon, Rory Duffy, Sean Holland; Brian Commons, Conor Grogan, Darren Connor; Padraig Duffy, Tom McCann; Micheál O’Shaughnessy, Jack Murphy, Aidan McCann; Conor McGuinness, Joe Connor, Sean Fearon.

Sub: Stefan Breen for S Fearon.

Sean O’Mahonys 0-11 St Fechins 0-8

Sean O’Mahonys made the worthwhile trip south on Saturday evening as they returned from Beaulieu with a well-deserved victory.

It was a disappointing start for St Fechins who fielded without a number of regulars due to injury and four unavailable due to Louth duty, including a recent call up of Ryan Walsh.

James McGlew stepped up to the scoring duties, opening the scoring two minutes and added a second soon after from outside the arc to leave Fechins with three points on the board.

O’Mahony’s converted a free and quickly followed up from the kick out with another from play before McGlew again pointed from a free.

The Dundalk men hit back with a point from a free but McGlew scored his fourth point of the half to give the hosts a 0-5 to 0-4 lead at the break.

The O’Mahony’s came out of the blocks in the second half and quickly equalised before John Woods put the home side ahead with sub Aaron McGlew opening up a two-point gap from a free.

The O’Mahonys had a purple patch starting with a two-pointer from the placed ball and followed up by four more to put them in the driving seat heading into the home stretch. A final point from Matthew Flanagan left three between the sides at the final whistle.

Sean O’Mahonys: Conor Finnegan; Daniel Crawley, Chris O’Neill, Oisin Breen; Tiarnan Cassidy 0-1, Aaron Boyle, Sean Cassidy; Gareth Hall, Brian McGuirk; Luke Kelly 0-3, Ben McLaughlin 0-1, Junior Shotayo; Terry Kelly 0-2, Conor Martin 0-2, Thomas Rice 0-2.

Sub: Stephen Kettle for D Crawley.

St Fechins: Cormac Dolan; Robert McCarthy, Ciaran McGinty, Paddy Keane; Garbhan O’Reilly, Adam O’Neill, Danny Burnell; John Woods 0-1, Shane Reilly; Colm O’Neill, Harry Haughney, John O’Connell; James McGlew 0-5, Colm Hackett, Matthew Flanagan 0-1.

Subs: Aaron McGlew 0-1 for John O’Connell, Evan Dolan for C O’Neill, Ronan Holcroft for J Woods, Cian Gorman for G O’Reilly.

Hunterstown Rovers 1-13 Geraldines 0-11

Hunterstown Rovers began life back in the top flight with an impressive victory at home to Geraldines on Sunday evening.

It was a close contest for much of the hour but the hosts did enough to earn the win as Tony McKenna struck the only goal of the game to help his side come out on top.

Ryan Ward also had a big say in the win as he finished with an impressive tally of ten points to his name.

The opening half proved to be a cagey affair and Rovers edged ahead by a point in the closing stages of the half before Ward’s two-pointer sent his team in at the interval with a 0-6 to 0-3 lead.

The Gers cut the gap back to two points but McKenna then struck the vital blow with a well-taken goal to see his side get a grip of the proceedings.

The visitors battled to get back into the game on a night when Brian Cafferty and Michael Rogers finished with three points apiece, but Rovers were able to keep them at arm’s length and went on to win by five.

Hunterstown Rovers: Donovan Sheridan; Daithi Carroll, Adam O’Reilly, Ewan Woodlock; Martin Lennon, Patrick Taaffe, Cillian Taaffe 1-0; Marc Ward, Jason Monaghan; Jamie O’Callaghan, David Finn 0-1, Tony McKenna 1-0; Aaron Levins, Ryan Ward 0-10 (1 2p), Glen Matthews.

Subs; Dean Burns 0-1 for G Mathews, Oran Martin for C Taaffe, Colm Murphy for A Levins, Alan Landy for M Ward.

Geraldines: Cian O’Donoghue; Ryan Traynor, Daragh O Gradaigh, Paul Clarke; John McCrohan 0-1, James Craven, Eoin McDonnell 0-1; Thomas McNamara 0-1, Brian Cafferty 0-3; Tiernan Hand 0-1, Gareth Neacy, Tom Cunniffe; Brian Devlin, Michael Rogers 0-3 (1 2p), David O’Connell.

Sub: Jim McEneaney 0-1.