St Mary's 2-14 Cortown 1-10

A much changed Cortown found St Mary's too hot to handle in a humid Donore on Tuesday evening. 

Decky Clarke, Micky Costello and Ciaran Keating were the only players to retain their place in the starting XV from Sunday's win over Trim and whilst St Mary's also shuffled the deck, they had the benefit of plenty of quality in reserve which proved decisive. 

The Donore outfit made a flying start adding 1-4 before Cortown got themselves on the scoresheet. Still buzzing from Donegals terrific win on Sunday - Donegal native Anthony Boyle struck a beauty to get Cortown off the mark. 

Making his return from a lengthy sabbatical, Jack Henry marked the occasion with a super score following a determined run. 

The arrival of Luca Brady seemed to spark Cortown into life with his energy and athleticism evident in the middle third. A brace of frees from Faithful's Finest Kevin McGuinness who was making his first public appearance since Offaly's humiliating Tailteann Cup defeat to London on Saturday helped to narrow the deficit. 

However, the home side tucked in a second goal in the lead-up to the interval which felt significant. Boyle did add a second white flag for himself to narrow the gap to 2-6 to 0-5 at the break. 

McGuinness riffled over the first score of the second half despite the goal gaping. The sides traded scores after that with McGuinness again on target, this time from an advanced mark. 

Cortown did reduce the arrears to four with seasoned campaigner Micheal Reilly finding the net at the second time of asking. 

It sprung the Mary's into life with a host of first team pedigree rolled off the bench from caretaker manager Rob Victory. With first team manager Nicky Gogan lining out at corner forward, the former corner back would have been disappointed with the mountain of wides he had amassed before he eventually found range late on. 

Despite late scores from Luke Carberry, Johnny McGearty and a long range free from Conor Mulroe, the gap was insurmountable for Martin McGovern's charges as the Mary's scored a deserved win. 

Congratulations to Killian Murray who lined out in the famous Cortown yellow for the first time tonight. His all action debut was unfortunately cut short due to injury but we look forward to seeing plenty more of the young man in the near future. 

Cortown: Glen Loughran; Cormac Farrell, Decky Clarke, Micky Costello; John McGearty (0-1), Ciaran Keating, Davy Coyne; Declan Coyne, Killian Murray; Anthony Boyle (0-2), Jack Henry (0-1), Conor Mulroe (0-1 free); Luke Carberry (0-1), Kevin McGuinness (0-4 two frees one mark), Micheal Reilly (1-0). 

Subs: Luca Brady for Farrell, Davy Rispin for Murray, Cormac Farrell for Reilly. 

 

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