ST. MICHAELS – NOBBER OFF TO A WINNING START
Wednesday February 12th 2020
MFL, Division 4a, round 1.
Full time: St. Michaels / Nobber 5-10, Rathkenny / Slane 3-10.
Half time: St. Michaels / Nobber 4-06, Rathkenny / Slane 1-04.
St. Michaels / Nobber had to withstand a tremendous fightback from the Rathkenny / Slane combination in the second half of this cracking first round match in Carlanstown on Wednesday night last. But it was the home side who eventually came good with Lorcan McEntee excelling and getting the crucial scores in the second half.
The home side held a massive 11 point half time lead having played into the teeth of a strong wind thanks to the accuracy of Lorcan McEntee (2-0), Jack Moriarty (1-1), Jo Jo Ogunube (1-1), Ben Forte (0-2) and Cian McFadden (0-2) and they went in for the half time team talk sitting on a 4-6 to 1-4 scoreline.
The wind got stronger and the rain lashed down on the Carlanstown pitch but that didn’t affect the Rathkenny / Slane lads who came out with a completely different attitude in the second half and they had whittled away the St. Michaels / Nobber lead to six points by the tenth minute of the new half. McEntee pulled one back on 40 minutes however the visitors were in control in all areas of the pitch and pulled the deficit back to a single point with eight minutes remaining on the stop watch.
St. Michaels / Nobber had now gone 15 minutes without raising a flag and it wasn’t until the 54th minute when McEntee stopped the rot and came to their rescue with three unanswered points in as many minutes. His midfield partner Jakub Bidinski was doing excellent work all over the park and it was a fitting reward for his endeavour’s when he blasted to the back of the net on the stroke of full time to put the game beyond doubt.
The visitors posted the final score of the match from a free two minutes into injury time.
Along with the scorers others who showed up well were Aaron Gaffney, Colin Condra, Paddy Fitzsimons, Jamie Murray, Scott Farrell, Brian O’Reilly, Eoghan Finnegan and Declan Reilly.
St. Michaels / Nobber team and scorers:
Aaron Gaffney; Colin Condra, Paddy Fitzsimons, Jamie Murray; Scott Farrell, Brian O’Reilly, Eoghan Finnegan; Jakub Bidinski (1-0); Lorcan McEntee (2-4); Declan Reilly, Cian McFadden (0-2), Conor Owens; Jack Moriarty (1-1), Jo Jo Ogunube (1-1), Ben Forte (0-2).
Referee: Stephen Dawson
Report & photos by: Pascal Reilly.
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