Curraha 1-11 Navan O'Mahonys 0-14

Curraha were so close to claiming their first ever victory at Senior level only for a late Navan O'Mahonys point.

This was a cracking game of football played in Dunsany in front of a great attendance and it was the Navan side who opened the scoring before a McEntee point brought his team level. Frees were traded before Navan hit a purple patch and raced into a four-point lead after 15 minutes but a Moriarty free had Curraha back on track. Soon after Jack O'Connor found some space near the dressing rooms and his quick turn of foot had him away from his man and he found Moriarty who was in on goal and he calmly slotted to the net to bring the sides level for the third time. A McEntee '45' had Curraha ahead for the first time but Navan got back level and were soon after back in front. As the first half drew to a close, it looked as if points from Moriarty and Brian Murphy would have Curraha ahead at the break but a late Navan point had the sides level at 1-06 to 0-9 at the break.

A David Coyle point in the opening minute and another '45' had Curraha two ahead but again Navan came back and were back level inside ten minutes. Curraha were creating goal chances and some great pressure from Murphy forced a turnover inside the '21' but a wayward pass saw the chance go begging. A Moriarty score pushed Curraha back in front before back to back frees for the Navan men saw them go back in front for the first time since conceding the goal. Most would have said that they would go on and win the game now but Curraha were playing some nice football and another run from O'Connor saw him dragged down outside the square and Moriarty pointed the resulting free. Both teams searched for the winner and it looked like substitute Gavin Coyle had got it for the Ha men on 56 minutes. Shortly after Neil Shortall saw red for an off the ball incident and despite defending well in the latter stages, Navan O'Mahonys got their chance to share the spoils late on.

Curraha: L. Hogan, S. Hogan, P. Dowling, M. Jackson, S. O'Hanrahan, N. Shortall, B. Joyce, D. Toner, J. McEntee 0-03, P. O'Hanrahan, B. Murphy 0-01, A. Battersby, D. Coyle 0-01, C. Moriarty 1-05, J. O'Connor. Subs: A. Coyle for D. Coyle, G. Coyle 0-01 for Joyce, S. Keogh for P. O'Hanrahan 

Navan O'Mahonys Report

Navan O'Mahony's 0-14 Curraha 1-11

The opening minutes of this SFC Round 2 game showed plenty of promise for a high scoring game but this didn't prove to be the case. O'Mahony's led by 0-04 to 0-02 after eight minute. The Navan side scored a further two points before Curraha scored a goal and point in quick succession to leave the teams equal after nineteen minutes. A collision forced Finnegan to be replaced by John Rogers in the twenty fourth minute. In the following ten minutes before the half time whistle, there was a to and fro of scores from both sides with the teams entering half time level - 1-06 to 0-09.

O'Mahony's introduced Evan Power as a half time substitute for Leech and Curraha opened the scoring in the second half to once again take the lead. Henry Finnegan replaced an injured McGuinness in the opening minute of the second half and with ten minutes played, the sides were once again level, 1-08 to 0-11. Curraha took the lead before the Navan men scored twice to lead by the minimum with eleven minutes remaining. Seconds later, Curraha equalised once again before losing a player to a red card for a striking offence. This close encounter was not over yet however as Curraha again got their noses in front before a collected Henry Finnegan shot with accuracy to ensure that the teams shared the spoils in this round two encounter.

O'Mahony's: M Brennan, A Leech, N McKeigue, J O'Reilly, D Smyth, C McGuinness (0-01), R Geraghty, G O'Brien, C Finnegan, D Maguire (0-01), D Regan (0-01), S Gillespie (0-01), R Keeleghan (0-07), P Whelehan (0-01), C Smyth. Subs: J Rogers for Finnegan (24), E Power for Leech (30), H Finnegan for McGuinness (34)

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