Louth GAA Division 1 Roundup: O’Mahony’s record memorable comeback

Hollywood developments Division 1 Round 3

SEAN O’MAHONY’S 1-10 ST BRIDES 0-12

Sean O’Mahony’s came from seven points down to defeat home side St Brides in Páirc an Chuinnigh on Friday night. The revival came midway through the second half and Stephen Kilcoyne was once again the hero for the Quay-siders.

The away outfit didn’t score from play in the first half but at the other end Kieran McArdle was in excellent form for the Brides as they went in at the break with a 0-9 to 0-4 advantage.

The men in red extended their lead with two quick points upon the resumption but Gary Mallon’s new side would ruefully only score once more. 

As well as upping the work rate, the O’Mahony’s cut the lead with a well taken Thomas Rice goal and with all that momentum the Point Road men pushed on for a win. As it usually is, Kilcoyne, with the game’s last kick, stunned the locals with a lovely winning point.

SEAN O’MAHONY’S: Conor Finegan; Ciaran Jamieson, Chris O’Neill, Cain McEvoy (0-1); Keith McLaughlin, Sean Cassidy, Oisín Breen; Thomas Rice (1-1), Conor Martin; Kyle Carroll, Tiernan Cassidy, Brian McGuirk; Mark Treanor, Terry Kelly (0-3), Stephen Kilcoyne (0-4). SUBS: Robbie Clarke (0-1) for McLaughlin, Conor Mackin for Treanor. 

ST BRIDES: Aaron Devin; Paraic Mackin, Ronan Bailey, Evan Wynne; Ross Murnaghan, Cillian Kirk, Daniel Mc Ardle; Bernard Laverty, Patrick Reilly (0-1); Sean Brennan, Ciaran Deane, Andrew Smyth; Nathan Kirk (0-1), Sean Marry (0-7), Kieran McArdle (0-3). SUBS: Paraic Ruth, Darren Bailey, Brian Faul.

ST PATRICKS 2-13 NEWTOWN BLUES 1-6

St Patricks picked up a much-needed victory on Saturday night when they got their first Division 1 points on the board at home to Newtown Blues.

The peninsula side made a dream start as Conor Grogan had the ball in the net inside the opening 30 seconds, with Tadhg O’Connor following up with a point soon after.

The Pats continued to push forward and scores from Cathal Grogan, Adam Finnegan and Sean Fearon had them 1-5 to 0-2 ahead.

However, the Blues rallied in the closing stages and got right back in the game when a Fergal Donoghue effort was deflected to the net by a defender to cut the deficit to 1-6 to 1-4 at half time.

The Blues cut the gap to one with the opening point of the second half, but they couldn’t build on that as the home side took over.

Finnegan replied with a point before O’Connor fired in the Pats’ second goal of the night, while Martin McEneaney, Conor McGuinness, Aidan McCann and Joe Connor were all on target as their side kicked a further five without reply.

The Blues had no response and a disappointing display saw them slump to their second defeat in three outings.

ST PATRICKS: Martin McEneaney (0-2); Cillian White, Kevin Toner, Barry Dunne; Conor Grogan (1-0), Darren O’Hanlon, Eoin O’Hagan; Dessie Finnegan, Joe Connor (0-1); Aidan McCann (0-2), Adam Finnegan (0-2), Tadhg O’Connor (1-1); Conor McGuinness (0-2), Cathal Grogan (0-2), Sean Fearon (0-1). Subs: Tom McCann for Cathal Grogan, Jack Elvin for C White, Padraig Duffy for C White.

NEWTOWN BLUES: J McDonnell; J Harte, C Cluskey Kelly, C Broderick; E Murray, J Connolly, I Connor (0-1); F Donoghue, E McConnon; J Kelly (0-1), D Nally, I Farrell (0-1); C McGuirk, C Brannigan (0-2), D McNamara (0-1). Subs: S Kerr Rafferty for J Harte, Z Levins for C Broderick, C McNamara for I Connor.

ST MOCHTAS 1-14 DREADNOTS 1-8

St Mochtas maintained their winning start to the Division 1 season with their latest victory coming on Saturday night when they made the trip to Clogherhead to take on the Dreadnots.

Unfortunately for the hosts, they too have a 100% record after the weekend’s game, having now lost their opening three fixtures.

For large parts of the game, the Clogher men looked to be in contention to get something out of the encounter, but it was the visitors who kicked on in the closing stages to claim a deserved victory.

Peter Kirwan was in fine form for the home side in the opening half as he was among the points alongside Pop Rath and Craig Shevlin to keep pace with a Mochtas side who had Cormac Smyth leading the line once again.

The decisive score came from Kirwan who scored the only goal of the half to send his side in leading by 1-7 to 0-9.

The Mochtas came out in the second half determined to get a grip on the game and in the end they proved to have too much fire power with a goal from Danny Kindlon ensuring the two points went back to Louth Village, despite losing Oisin Callan to a second yellow card.

ST MOCHTAS: Jason Callan; Liam Lawlor, Ben Goss Kieran, Andy English (0-1); Conor Garland, Oisín Callan, Ryan Cash; Sean Flynn, Danny Kindlon (1-1); Darren McMahon, Phily Englishby (0-1), Gerry Garland (0-1); Cormac Smyth (0-7), Liam O’Flaherty (0-1), Jamie Farrell (0-2). Subs: Gavyn Short for L O’Flaherty, Shane McMahon for L Lawlor, Justin McCooey for C Smyth.

DREADNOTS: Dylan Cassidy; Alex Bolger, Barry Faulkner, Joshua Kirwan; Aaron Scullion, Ciaran Finnegan; David O’Brien; Cian McEvoy, Darragh Shevlin; Dean Hyland, Padraic Smith, Sam Reilly; Pop Rath (0-1), Craig Shevlin (0-1), Peter Kirwan (1-6). Subs; Conor Shevlin for D O’Brien, Conor Faulkner for A Bolger, Ciaran Cunningham for D Hyland, Fergus Browne for J Kirwan.

Dundalk Supersub Keith Ward delighted to be finding his best form again

Louth Ladies denied at the death despite poor second half showing

ST FECHINS 2-18 O RAGHALLAIGHS 0-10

Both sides went into this clash at Newfoundwell looking for their first league win of the season and it was the Fechins that were the more convincing side as they emerged with a comprehensive 14-point win.

The first half was fairly evenly contested, as St Fechins No 1 Niall McDonnell got the scoring going with a pointed free.

O Raghallaighs got their first point from play and went ahead with a further two scores to put them ahead at the quarter way mark, before the Fechins went up a gear with points from Ryan Walsh (3), Niall Devlin (1) and John O’Connell (1).  

The teams added one more to their tally before the half time whistle, with the Fechins score coming from a well taken free by Niall Devlin to send his team in leading by 0-7 to 0-4.

The second half was dominated by the Fechins attack, and they were helped by those who came off the bench in the second half. Goals from Ryan Walsh and substitute Eoghan Ryan were the icing on the cake as they put their first two points on the league table.

ST FECHINS: Niall McDonnell (0-1); Cian Gorman, David Lally, Danny Burnell; Shane Reilly, Aaron McGlew, Neal Hodgins (0-1); Eoin Hackett, Jamie McDonnell; Adam Kirwan, Colm O’Neill, John O’Connell (0-1); Ryan Walsh (1-7), Joe Corrigan, Niall Devlin (0-6). Subs: Eoghan Ryan (1-1) for C O’Neill, Brian Devlin (0-1) for J Corrigan, Robert McCarthy for E Hackett, James McGlew for A Kirwan.

O RAGHALLAIGHS; Connor Browne; Matthew Moore, Scott Byrne, James Morgan; Eoin Moore, Emmet King, Joe Meehan; Ruairi Moore (0-3), Alan Doyle (0-1); Cillian Curran, Joe Flanagan, Danny Reilly (0-1); Chris Smith, Ben Rogan (0-5), James Smith. Subs: Evin Smith, Oliver Clutterbuck, Andrew Ronan, Connell Rice.

NAOMH MAIRTIN 1-11 ST MARYS 0-10

Two of the county’s heavyweights met in the Division 1 league for the first time this season, but with numerous absences due to Leinster Final preparations, it was more a case of shadow boxing than an opportunity to lay down any serious marker.

In the end it was Naomh Mairtin, with more of their regulars to call upon, who edged a tight contest as they maintained their winning start to the season.

Although there wasn’t much to choose between the sides, the knock-out blow was landed by Conor Whelan, who fired in a late goal to complete a four-point victory.

The Jocks began the game well with points from Conor Whelan and Evan Whelan and they maintained that advantage with half time approaching only for the Marys to strike back with two late scores to level the match at five points apiece.

Half-time sub, Craig Lynch, made an immediate impact for the Mairtins as he kicked the first point of the half. However, the Marys kept in touch with the help of scores from Ronan Carroll and Carl Gillespie.

The game was still in the balance in the closing moments with just a point separating the sides, but it was Whelan who had the final say as he blasted home after good work from Ben Callanan and Wayne Campbell.

NAOMH MAIRTIN: Joe Gordon; Tadhg O’Brien, Tom Sullivan, Conor Healy; Evan Whelan (0-1), Sean Healy (0-1), Jack Murphy; Wayne Campbell, Dara McDonnell (0-1); Craig Callanan, Conor Whelan (1-4), Paul Murphy; Stephen Campbell, Val Leddy (0-1), Daragh Dorian (0-1). Subs: Joe McGrane for E Whelan, Oisin Grey for C Callanan, Craig Lynch (0-1) for P Murphy, Ben Callanan for V Leddy.

ST MARYS: James McGillick; Ben Clarke, Tiarnan Corrigan (0-1), Carl Gillespie (0-2); Kian Moran, Evan Malone, Tadhg McDonnell (0-1); Robbie Leavy, Cillian Keenan; Sean Callaghan (0-1), Conor Gillespie, Dean Matthews; Conor O’Brien, Ronan Carroll (0-4), Darren Clarke. Subs: Ryan Rooney (0-1) for R Leavy.

GERALDINES 1-10 MATTOCK RANGERS 1-5

Unbeaten Geraldines sit pretty at the top of Division 1 after an excellent performance against Mattock Rangers in Haggardstown on Saturday night. 

The Gers led by 0-8 to 0-3 at the halfway stage and that five point margin was down to some impressive point taking from Louth under 20 players Beanón Corrigan and Ben Gartlan - ironically against this year's U20 county manager Christy Grimes.

Despite Robert Holmes’ point, Grimes’ side could not reduce the deficit in the second half. Both sides in fact equalled each other's tallies. Eoin McDonnell came off the bench to seal the game with its first goal while Cathal Fleming scored a late consolation penalty.

GERALDINES: Des Reenan; Paul Clarke, Gareth Neacy, Jack Traynor; Paul Smith, Ryan Brennan, Thomas McNamara; Michael Rogers, Brian Cafferty; John McCrohan, Josh Arrowsmith, James Craven (0-3); David O’Connell, Beanón Corrigan (0-6) Ben Gartlan (0-1). SUBS: Jamie Callan, Eoin McDonnell (1-0), Kevin Pepper, Barra Duffy, Dara O’Gradaigh.

MATTOCK RANGERS: Stephen Smith; Eoin McCloskey, Cillian Hickey, Ben Markey; Darren Henry, Ryan Leneghan, Ronán Kilbane; Brendan Leacy (0-1), Ben McKenna (0-1); Robert Holmes (0-1), Aaron O’Brien, Terry Donegan; Adam Flynn, Cathal Fleming (1-2), Oisín McKenna. SUBS: Pauric Bannon, Adrian Reid, Sean Clarke, Daire Englishby, Aaron Smith.