St Vincents 2-10 Drumbaragh 2-10

In this League Division 3A game at Masterson Park, Ardcath on Sunday afternoon the points were shared after a tense struggle.

In conditions that were ideal for football, the home side opened brightly with Declan O'Sullivan pointing after 3 minutes. A number of scoring chances were wasted before Richie O'Sullivan pointed in the 15th minute after being put through by Bob Tallon. Three minutes later, Ryan Hand drove forward from centre-back to score a morale raising point to give St. Vincent's a one point advantage.

Drumbarragh were tenacious opponents and tacked on two further points of their own. T. Fields had an opportunity to put the home side ahead within a minute, but kicked wide. He atoned for it a few minutes later by pointing a difficult free from the right wing. On 25 minutes R.O'Sullivan pointed after B.Tallon found him with a well placed free. St. Vincent's went further ahead with a Paddy Muldowney point after good work by wing half-back Danny Murphy. A minute later Murphy was also involved in setting up D. O'Sullivan for a well taken goal. Drumbarragh responded with a well taken goal of their own as the first-half drew to a close. Half-time score St. Vincent's 1-6, Drumbarragh 1-5.

On the resumption, Drumbarragh hit the ground running scoring 3 points (1f) within four minutes. The home side however were anxious not to let this game slip, as had occurred in some of their earlier League outings. Cutting through with speed, D.O'Sullivan pointed on 6 minutes with R.O'Sullivan converting a free 4 minutes later. D. O'Sullivan was again on target with a neat point from play. The visitors countered with a point of their own. At this stage the game was delicately balanced.

However on 27 minutes, when the referee deemed what appeared to be a perfectly executed hand block as a foot block and awarded Drumbarragh a penalty, which was duly despatched, St. Vincent's looked to be in trouble. A T.Fields point from a free helped to keep the home side in touch. The home fans were on their feet when R.Hand broke from defence and despite the best efforts of several Drumbarragh defenders drove the ball to the net. In the final minutes St. Vincent's had a few chances to secure the points but squandered the opportunities. The match ended all-square with a score of 2-10 each.

While St. Vincent's management will have concerns about the problems of securing better possession around midfield and the forwards not capitalising on more of their chances, they will have been pleased with many aspects of their team's performance. They can only hope that the many players missing through injury, etc. are back soon and available for selection.

St. Vincent's: Graham Connor, John Corry, Barry O'Sullivan, Stephen Creed, Tommy Kearns, Ryan Hand, Danny Murphy, Martin Fox, Ronan Sheridan, Bob Tallon, Paddy Muldowney, Declan O'Sullivan, Richie O'Sullivan, Tommy Fields, Robbie Lynch.

Subs ; Colm Hand for R. Sheridan (48 mins ), Eoin Hand for Colm Hand (55 mins), Sean Moore for P. Muldowney (56 mins).

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