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Naomh Pádraig back in the groove
12.05.11
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St Mary’s Convoy...1-6 Naomh Pádraig Iskaheen...1-10 by Damian Dowds at Convoy MUFF, beaten Junior finalists in 2010, got their 2011 campaign off to a fine start with a 1-10 to 1-6 victory over Convoy last Saturday evening. Muff did the heavy lifting in the first half when, with the wind at their backs, they led by 1-6 to 0-2 at half time. Convoy improved somewhat in the second period, but still struggled to find scores. Convoy’s goal came deep in injury time, by which time they had been reduced to 13 men with both corner backs receiving straight red cards that will rule them out of the second leg in a couple of weeks time. Seven days earlier Convoy won the Division 4 league match between the teams by ten points, but Naomh Pádraig lined out with a stronger starting 15 this time, welcoming back Enda McColgan, Dermot Keaveney and Damian Diver. And the visitors got off to the best possible start, hitting 1-2 without reply in the opening minutes. Aidan Lynch, who had a fine first half a midfield, and Damian Diver scored points before Dermot Keaveney got the goal when his 25 yard shot deceived keeper Emmet Doherty and hit the back of the net. |
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Convoy responded with an
Anthony Browne free in the 12th minute but their
forwards, who had hit 2-14 against the same opposition
in the league match, were struggling. Muff deployed
Anthony McColgan as an extra defender and he filled the
role with great intelligence, breaking up several Convoy
attacks and getting forward himself on occasion. Two Diver points on either side of an Aidan Lynch effort had Muff 1-5 to 0-1 ahead by the 19th minute and despite the best efforts of Browne and David Shovlin, Convoy just couldn’t find a way through a stubborn Muff rearguard. Enda McColgan did a great job on curtailing Convoy danger man Raymond McNamee, while Marty Duffy and the hard working Eunan Keaveney were always on hand to turn defence into attack. Anthony McColgan dispossessed Liam Prunty and pointed on the half hour with Shovlin getting Convoy’s second point two minutes into first half injury time. Muff opened the second half scoring directly from the throw-in with Charlie Molloy tapping the ball down to midfield partner Aidan Lynch who picked out Dermot Keaveney and the latter sped goalward before hitting a fine left footed point. Convoy responded well with David Shovlin scoring while under pressure and two Anthony Browne points brought it back to 1-7 to 0-5 midway through the second period. But they were wasteful too, hitting five wides in the third quarter and failing to put enough pressure on Naomh Pádraig’s lead. |
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Charlie Molloy and another
Diver free stretched Muff’s lead to seven points by the
51st minute, and keeper Emmet Doherty made a good save
from Dermot Keaveney to keep his side’s diminishing
prospects alive. Shovlin pointed off his left foot on 57 minutes, but Muff responded immediately through substitute Michael McColgan. The real drama, though, was saved for injury time when first Emmet McNulty and then Ronan McMenamin both received straight red cards for Convoy, the latter for an off the ball offence spotted by the linesman. Convoy did find the net five minutes into injury time when a long ball in broke to substitute Michael Mailey and he cracked an unstoppable shot to the net. But it came too late to have any meaningful effect on the outcome of the game. St Mary’s Convoy: Emmet Doherty; Ronan McMenamin, Michael Kelly, Emmet McNulty; Liam Prunty, John Doherty, Oisin Porter; Thomas McHugh, John A Kee; David Shovlin (0-3), Laurence McMullan, Anthony Browne (0-3, 2f); Paul McMullan, Raymond McNamee, John A McMullan. Subs: Martin Mailey (1-0) for JA McMullan. Naomh Pádraig Iskaheen: Christy Lynch; Laurence Lynch, Enda McColgan, Brendan McColgan; Raymond McLaughlin, Martin Duffy, Cathal McColgan; Charlie Molloy (0-1), Aidan Lynch (0-2); Barry Hegarty, Eunan Keaveney, Dermot Keaveney (1-1); Michael Crowley, Damian Diver (0-4, 3f), Anthony McColgan (0-1). Subs: Gerard McColgan for Hegarty (41 mins); Gary McKinney for B. McColgan (46 mins); Michael McColgan (0-1) for Crowley (49 mins). Man-of-the-match Naomh Pádraig had several candidates. Aidan Lynch was impressive in the first half, before taking a knock that took the wind from this sails. Eunan Keaveney covered every blade of grass and never stopped running at Convoy. Enda McColgan’s tigerish defending kept Convoy danger man Raymond McNamee scoreless and the pacy Dermot Keaveney hit 1-1 and looked dangerous every time he got on the ball. But the nod goes to Anthony McColgan. Wearing 15 on his back, he played as an extra defender and mopped up ball after ball as Convoy couldn’t work out a way to get past him. He got forward to score a first half point too, which put the icing on an excellent hour’s football for him. Man-in-the-middle The big talking point was the two straight red cards issued to Convoy players in second half injury time. McNulty could have been booked twice before he finally went too far and got red, but referee Kevin Doherty’s leniency throughout the second half when heavy tackles on Muff players didn’t draw yellow cards made it hard for the players to know what the ref was going to tolerate and what he wasn’t. It’s a tough task for referees who must tread a thin line between being firm and being fussy. But on this occasion, a couple of yellow cards might have prevented Convoy from being reduced to 13 men in injury time. Move of the match Muff’s point from the throw in at the start of the second half looked like a well rehearsed set piece. Aidan Lynch didn’t contest the throw-in, instead waited for his midfield partner to tap it back down to him. Lynch then picked up the diagonal run of Dermot Keaveney who showed a clean pair of heels to his marker and pointed into the wind. The whole thing only took 16 seconds. The pitch Convoy’s pitch is the best in the county, bar none. There’s a thick sole of grass on the playing surface that makes it look like more like a bowling green than a football pitch. One spectator, who’s more inclined towards the 11 man version of football than the 15 man one, reckoned it’s wasted on Gaelic football where the ball spends more time in the air than on the deck! But tremendous credit has to go to Oliver Prunty and the Convoy club for keeping the pitch is such excellent condition. For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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