Clonard 0-6  Slane 1-12

Slane made the long trip down to Clonard on Wednesday night looking to improve on last week’s disappointing defeat to Cortown in the first round of the Tailteann Cup. With injuries stacked against them they were still able to name a strong starting 15.

The first 15 minutes, both sides were working their way into the game with only a handful of shots taken. Clonard opened the scoring with a 21m free before Matt Tully levelled with a free of his own.
Clonard got their 2nd point of the game shortly before the water break.

After the break, Slane tweaked a few things and got into their rhythm. The full back line of Aaron Lane, Francie Marry and Sean Martyn were holding strong and getting in front of their men with the support of keeper Darren Berrill behind them, and this helped Slane win the ball back and get it up the pitch. Conor Forde’s free-roaming runs were causing the Clonard full back line havoc pulling them out of position - allowing space for Daniel Carolan and Shane Traynor - and his efforts secured himself a well taken point from play off his left to put Slane in front.

Shane Traynor picked up an injury which saw the introduction of Eoin McCann in the forward line.

Keeper Darren Berrill then tagged on a free from the 45 – something he has now become accustomed with – to increase the margin the 2. Good work from Daniel Forde and Peter Martyn on Clonard’s 45 saw Tully breakthrough to point before the half time break to stretch the margin to 3.

Half-Time:  Clonard 0-2 Slane 0-5

Slane won the throw-in and a long ball from Tully into Eanna Mooney now operating in the full forward line resulted in a well worked mark and pointed the free.

Slane were well on top in the 3rd quarter and looked to extend their lead. Eoin Feeley who was marauding in wing forward, saw his effort cannon off the crossbar. A minute later Sean Murray up from wing back had the ball in the back of the net after some great link up play. Tully tagged on another score from play before Clonard pointed from a free.

Some nice work out from the back from Sean Martyn picked out Daniel Forde who slotted over the bar to extend the margin to 9 going into the second half’s water break.

After the break Clonard were pushing hard for goals to get something out of the game. Eoin Feeley picked up a knock and was replaced by Luke Bailey to make his Slane debut.

Tully pointed from a free in the 46th minute. Clonard enjoyed a 5-minute spell in front of the Slane goal with never ending 45s barraging the Slane goal. Slane defended their goal line well with Berrill making some fine saves and punches clear, with help from Eoin Gibbs and Aaron Lane making some crucial blocks in the penalty area and winning turnovers in the dying moments. Bailey got Slane’s last point of the game to mark his debut with a nicely taken score.

Slane: Darren Berrill (0-1), Sean Martyn, Francie Marry, Aaron Lane, Sean Murray (1-0), Eoin Gibbs, Kevin Dunne, Matt Tully (0-6), Eanna Mooney (0-1), Peter Martyn, Daniel Forde (0-2), Eoin Feeley, Shane Traynor, Conor Forde (0-1), Daniel Carolan
Subs: Eoin McCann for Shane Traynor, Luke Bailey (0-1) for Eoin Feeley Gordon Finnegan 

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