MATCH REPORT
Friday January 31st 2020
Corn na Boinne, Group C, Round 2
Full time: St. Michaels 1-11, Drumbaragh 0-07.
Half time: St. Michaels 0-04, Drumbaragh 0-03.
St. Michaels recovered from a slow opening half to savour success at the expense of Drumbaragh in this Corn na Boinne second round match in Carlanstown on Friday night last. The better balanced Carlanstown Kilbeg side got the job done with seven points to spare while taking advantage of the strong cross wind in the second half. Although a seven point margin might look comfortable, it was far from plain sailing for the red and blacks and the Drumbaragh lads will rue some costly misses over the course of the hour.
St. Michaels made the perfect start with a pointed free from Ciaran Lynch after 90 seconds but they failed to raise another flag until the 23rd minute when Shane McCormack left his goalkeeping position to go up-field and convert a free. Drumbaragh popped two over the crossbar, one from a free in the opening 7 minutes but they could only manage one more first half score in the 27th minute. Ciaran Lynch sent over two points from frees in injury time for a 0-4 to 0-3 interval lead for the home side.
Shane McDonnell posted the opening point of the second half when he received a perfect pass from Oran Meehan two minutes after the restart. McCormack picked up another point from a dead ball before a swift attacking move culminated in McDonnell collecting possession and his superb finish to the bottom of the net warmed the hearts of the St. Michaels faithful who braved the chilly night to be in attendance.
Drumbaragh were left shell shocked but they gradually restored some order in the shape of a couple of points, one from a free, however St. Michaels were now displaying greater fluidity in their attacking forays and this resulted in points from Ciaran Lynch (2) and Ray Reilly (1). David Lynch and Oran Meehan were a lively presence throughout as they popped up all over the pitch.
McDonnell finished off another great move up-field from McCormack’s kick-out in the 56th minute and Ray Reilly had the final say when he split the posts with the last score of the match in the second minute of added time.
St. Michaels will now host Trim in the final group match on Friday night next at 8pm.
St. Michaels team & scorers:
Shane McCormack (0-2) ; Christopher Drew, Mark Stafford, Alan Reilly; Brian Reilly, Ronan Lynch, Ben Reilly; Cian Sheridan, Paddy Clarke; Ray Reilly (0-2), Oran Meehan, David Lynch; Patrick Tobin, Shane McDonnell (1-2), Ciaran Lynch (0-5).
Subs: Ciaran O’Reilly for A. Reilly, Lee Morris for P. Tobin, Harry Dunne for C. Drew, J. McPhillips for B. Reilly, Rory O’Driscoll for C. Lynch.
Referee: Kieran Olwell.
Report by: Pascal Reilly PRO.
St. Michaels GFC would like to offer their condolences to the McGivern family on the sad passing of Nancy, especially to her daughter Susan Meehan ( ladies chairperson ), and her grandchildren and current players Oran & Brioch Meehan, Lee Morris, Jack and Matt Moriarty.
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.
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