St. Michaels 0-16 1-09 Rathkenny
Friday January 24th 2020
Corn na Boinne in Carlanstown
Corn na Boinne Round 1

MATCH REPORT

Friday January 24th 2020
Corn na Boinne, Round 1

Full time: St. Michaels 0-16, Rathkenny 1-09.
Half time: St. Michaels 0-04, Rathkenny 0-04.

St. Michaels eventually got their mojo back on Friday night last as they recorded their first victory in any competition since April 2019 as they deservedly collected both points in this victory over Rathkenny and they did so with plenty of positives to be taken from this outing.

Probably the biggest plus was the form of Davy Lynch on his return from injury as the hard working half forward proved a constant thorn in the Rathkenny side for the entire match.

Both sides spent the opening half trying to shake off the winter cobwebs and it wasn’t pretty to watch, with lots of missed opportunities going a begging at both ends and a 0-4 apiece scoreline at half time was a true reflection of the quality of play on offer. The St. Michaels scores came from Ciaran Lynch (2 frees) and a point apiece from play from Oran Meehan and Paddy Tobin .

The half time team talks worked as the second half was a complete turnaround, Rathkenny took the lead with two points in the opening three minutes however 2 minors from Davy Lynch and another from Meehan put the home side into the lead, Rathkenny pulled one back from a free to level the match for the fourth time on 43 minutes. St. Michaels won their own kick-out and within 30 seconds were back in front when Ciaran Lynch split the posts at the opposite end.
That score was the turning point for the home side as they began to play with more confidence and began to weave some nice patterns in the final third with substitute Lee Morris, Oran Meehan and the two Lynch brothers all tagging on points and they could easily have had a few more added by the final whistle. Rathkenny added another point in normal time and a pointed free and a well struck goal in the third and fifth minutes of injury time.

St. Michaels team & scorers:

Shane McCormack; Ciaran O’Reilly, Mark Stafford, Ben Reilly; Paddy Clarke, Christopher Drew, Brian Reilly; Cian Sheridan, Sam Briody; Ray Reilly, Ciaran Lynch (0-6), David Lynch (0-3); Patrick Tobin (0-2), Oran Meehan (0-2), Shane McDonnell (0-1).

Subs: Alan Reilly for C. O’Reilly, Lee Morris (0-2) for B. Reilly, Ronan Lynch for M. Stafford, Jack Dunne for R. Reilly.

Referee: Larry McEntee
Report by: Pascal Reilly PRO.