A very strong 1st half performance, aided by a stiff breeze, set the foundations for a comfortable win for the visiting St Marys team in St Brendan’s Park, Castleconnor.

Mary’s brought a strong intensity and work rate in the first half and totally dominated proceeding early on. With 25 minutes on the clock they had scorched into a 10 point lead. Adam lynch opened the scoring with a neat point followed by a major by Mark McGoldrick, who left the field injured shortly afterwards. However the main man for St Marys was Nathan Rooney who scored 5 points from play in that early period with the other scores a free for Aaron Bennett and a point from substitute Stephen Henry.

Castleconnor took until the 27th minute for their top marksman Stephen Curley to open their account but Henry and Kyle Cawley responded for Marys before Curley converted a free won by minor Ronan Wilson with the last kick of the 1st half leaving a half time score of 1-11 to 0-2 in favour of  the visitors.

Castleconnor obviously had some hard words in the dressing room at half time and came out of the blocks all guns blazing at the start of the 2nd half. Stephen Curley and Ronan Wilson had a point each in the 1st minute and Eoin Kent followed up with a 3rd a minute later. Nathan Rooney struck a free for Marys to stem the tide but the home team struck another 4 points in the next 7 minutes with 3 points from Stephen Curley and one from the ever young Eamonn Cawley.  Castleconnor were back within 5 points when Luke Munnelly struck in the 46th minute and Marys were wavering but then in the 49th minute they hit 1-1 to ease themselves into a comfortable position, the point coming from an Adam Lynch Free and the resulting kick out was intercepted and a goal finished by Aaron Bennett. 

Castleconnor’s come back had been thwarted but Eamonn Cawley managed a 2nd point from play with 10 minutes to play but Marys killed the game off with a quick 1-1 from Adam Lynch in the 52nd and 55th minute, the goal a super example of counter attacking play, started and finished by Lynch. 

Castleconnor rallied with another point from Curley and a goal for Odhran Quinn who out muscled the Marys defence before kicking to an empty net. Marys had the last word with an injury time point from Rooney leaving them 10 points ahead at the final whistle. Castleconnor remain pointless in Div 1 but can certainly take a lot of positives from their 2nd half performance while Marys will look to put a full 60 minutes of football together in their next outing.

Castleconnor – Kenneth Healy, Liam Naughton, Keith Earlis, James Boland, Cian Barrins, John McDonnell, Ronan Keane, Brian Howley, Eoin Kent, Ronan Wilson, Paul Flynn, Luke Munnelly, Stephen Curley, Alan Naughton, Eamonn Cawley. Subs – Odhran Quinn, Niall Judge, 

Scorers – Stephen Curley 0-7 (2F), Odhran Quinn 1-0, Eamonn Cawley 0-2, Ronan Wilson 0-1, Eoin Kent 0-1, Luke Munnelly 0-1

St Marys – Alan Sheerin, Darragh Cawley, Conor Darcy, Liam Henry, Hubert Gilvarry, Jonathan Martyn, Jonathan Lynch, Tony O Kelly Lynch, Kyle Cawley, Adam Lynch, Mark McGoldrick, Nathan Rooney, Aaron Bennett, Dylan Kilgannon, Aaron McGoldrick Subs Stephen Henry, Mark Brehony, Neil Smyth

Scorers – Nathan Rooney 0-8 (2F), Adam Lynch 1-3 (1F), Mark McGoldrick 1-0, Aaron Bennett 1-1 (1F), Stephen Henry 0-2, Aaron McGoldrick 0-1, Kyle Cawley 0-1