Louth GAA Division 3B Roundup: Mitchels coast to victory to top league table

John Mitchel's John Gallagher grabbed three points as his side began the Junior Championship with a draw. (Pic: Arthur Kinahan)

placeholder image — John Mitchel's John Gallagher grabbed three points as his side began the Junior Championship with a draw. (Pic: Arthur Kinahan)

Hollywood Developments Division 3B Round 1

CUCHULAINN GAELS 1-13 DOWDALLSHILL 1-8

Cuchulainn Gaels made a winning start to the Division 3B season when they came out on top against Dowdallshill at St Brigid’s Park, in a game refereed by County Chairman, Peter Fitzpatrick.

Peter Morgan put over the visitors’ first point from play followed by Micheal McCabe, Cian McDonald and James Sharkey, before Dowdallshill scored two in reply.

The half finished with the Gaels on top as points from James Sharkey, Philip McGovern and Seamus McCabe saw their side lead by 0-6 to 0-3 at the break.

With just 50 seconds gone the clock in the second half Dowdallshill scored a well taken goal through David McCrave to level the contest.

Micheal McCabe picked up the pace from a quiet first half and slotted over a well worked point putting us back in front.

Dowdallshill scored the next point from play which levelled the match again but, following another point from Micheal, Cuchulainn Gaels were to stay in front for the rest of the match.

James Sharkey slotted over a well taken free, followed with three more frees and a fine point from play. To ease any nerves at the end, James Sharkey pounced on a loose ball and slotted home a fine goal.

CUCHULAINN GAELS: Ciaran Connelly; Rory Watson, Martin Hynes, Sean Brennan; Phillip McGovern, Peter Morgan (0-1), Benny O’Hagan; Seamus McCabe, David Reilly; James Sharkey (1-8), Micheal McCabe (0-3), Jamie Molloy; Cian McDonald (0-1), Rammie Phillips, Stephen Mullen. Subs: John Morgan for R Watson, Conal Donnelly for S Mullen, Martin Ward for R Phillips, Brendan McKeown for J Molloy, Euan McArdle for B O’Hagan.

DOWDALLSHILL: Emmet O’Brien; John Spain, Darragh Newman, Keenan McCavisk; Stephen Murray, Paddy McKenna, Dylan McDonald (0-1); Jack McGailey (0-1), Gavin Durkin; Paudie Murray, Donal Magennis, Cathal Sheridan (0-5); Martin Og O’Brien, Niall McManus (0-1), Eamonn Duffy. Subs: David McCrave (1-0) for S Murray, Peter Hughes for N McManus.

JOHN MITCHELS 1-11 ST NICHOLAS 0-4

John Mitchels got their 3B league campaign off to a winning start in Drogheda with a well-earned win over St Nicholas.

An early goal from John Gallagher sent the visitors on their way. A well worked move put the Ballybailie ace through and there was no looking back. Trevor Matthews finished with seven points to his name, but his next score was the highlight.

Thanks to the bright Mitchels start the visitors led 1-5 to 0-2 at the break. Four separate Nicks scorers in the loss were Fionn Meagher, Paudi Downey, Phillip Kirwan and Caebhan Housidari and told a tale in itself.

The second half saw more of the same as the Mitchels sought to control the game, Cathal Corrigan scoring two from play along with four frees from Matthews that led to James Murray picking up his first league win at the helm.

JOHN MITCHELS: David Anderson; Aaron Kane, Mickey Quinn, Shane Crosson; Liam Devitt, John Bingham, James Sands; Andrew Bingham, Trevor Matthews (0-7); Cathal Corrigan (0-2), Kevin Gallagher, Jake Gillespie (0-1); John Gallagher (1-0), Stephen Campbell (0-1), Robbie Coyle (0-1). SUBS: Jamie Durnin for Stephen Campbell, Cathal Bradley for Jamie Durnin, Anthony Coyle for John Gallagher, Stephen Bingham for Cathal Corrigan, Barry Cousins for Liam Devitt, Peter Tenanty.

ST NICHOLAS: Shane Finegan; Stephen Finegan, Andrew Starrs, Matt Onianwa; Cian O’Brien, Alex Finegan, Rian Farrell; Brian Carter, Aaron Flanagan; Caebhan Housidari (0-1), Phillip Kirwan (0-1), Con Sheehan; Lee Kavanagh, Paudi Downey (0-1), Sam Reilly. Subs; Stephen Hodgins for Downey, Ruairi Hanlon for O’Brien, Connor Faulkner for Onianwa, Dylan McGrath for Reilly, Declan Heeney for Starrs, Fionn Meagher (0-1) for Kavanagh.

Two late goals see Meath account for Louth Minors

WESTERNS 1-12 SEAN MCDERMOTTS 0-15

A last gasp free from top scorer Marty Duffy equalised a tense local derby for Sean McDermotts against the Westerns in Reaghstown last Saturday night.

Matthew Kane picked up a black card in the game’s final act as the hosts nearly picked up their first league win since going down last season.

Despite Killian Crosbie finding the net, the visitors led 0-10 to 1-6 at the break and maintained their edge until James Maguire pushed the hosts into the lead after the break.

However, there would be no separating the neighbours as they clocked the only draw across the board in all divisions on the opening weekend.

WESTERNS: Dermot McArdle; James Cahill, Dylan Ogle, Brian Coyle; Conor Smith, John Murray, Adam Duffy; Matthew Kane, Finn Duffy; Ryan Duffy, James Maguire (0-8), Patrick Kerley (0-1); Anthony Durnin (0-2), Chris Morgan, Killian Crosbie (1-0). SUBS: Aidan McGarrell (0-1), Andrew Murray, Roan Gallagher, Bradley Duffy, Raymond Gallagher.

SEAN MCDERMOTTS: Finbar Moran; Ronan Kerley, David McArdle, Nathan Commins; Ian Corbally, Lorcan Ludden, Emmett Duffy (0-1); Cormac Walsh (0-3 frees); Dean Brennan, Stefan Grimes (0-3), Marty Duffy (0-7, 0-3 frees), Danny Reilly (0-1); Conor Farrell, Peter Tuite, Ian McDonald (1-0). SUBS: Declan Carroll for P Tuite, Noel Tuite for Ronan Kerley, Patrick Osborne for Noel Tuite, Kevin McMahon for Conor Farrell.

ANNAGHMINNON ROVERS 2-8 NAOMH MALACHI 1-7

Annaghminnon Rovers tore up the form book to snatch an away victory in Courtbane against in-form Naomh Malachi in the opening match of the 3B campaign.

Dwayne Markey gave the Stonetown men the slimmest of leads at the break, 1-3 to 0-5, with a well taken goal. Jason Clarke returned with devastating effect, but Rovers still maintained their good start.

Substitute Ronan McElroy came off the bench to trade goals with James O’Connor, however Rovers would hold out for Cormac Malone’s first win and succumb Kevin Caraher to an introductory loss at the helm.