Cortown 2-08 Drumconrath 1-08

Remarkably on April 13th, Cortown opened up their 2023 League campaign with a hard fought win over a typically dogged Drumconrath outfit on Thursday evening.

This was far from a classic with a host of regulars missing from the respective teams. Cortown opened up a two point cushion in the opening exchanges following a brace of frees from Ryan O'Rourke. Drumconrath settled into the contest though and rattled off four in a row with Matthew Durnin to the fore. The loss of Daragh O'Halloran early on was a blow no doubt but the introduction of Hugh Staunton was certainly timely unlike his car journey from Dublin and it had a lasting impression.

Parity was restored following another couple of quickfire efforts from O'Rourke. In his attempts to put the hosts in front, O'Rourke's free dropped short but Davy Rispin was on hand to fist the ball to net to regain the initiative for Martin McGovern's charges - a lead they would never relinquish. O'Rourke did have the final say of the opening period before Kieran Olwell's whistle sounded with Cortown holding an unlikely four point lead at the break, 1-5 to 0-4.

The sides exchanged points at the beginning of the second half with Durnin and O'Rourke on target once more. Then came the big moment of the second half when a penetrating run from Ciaran Keating resulted in the wing forward being hauled down inside the square. O'Rourke stepped up but crashed his shot off the crossbar. The ball seemed to hang in the air for an eternity with Rispin racing in for the rebound he was then fouled midair and Olwell awarded a second penalty. This time O'Rourke went low and hard and made no mistake to hand Cortown a 6-point buffer.

The men in yellow really should have hammered home the advantage but instead allowed the visitors back into the contest. Drumconrath were right back in the contest when a third penalty was awarded with Durnin duly obliging in tucking it away to make it a two point game.

O'Rourke settled the Cortown nerves with a couple of fine points but the Drums hung around and almost manufactured a smash and grab draw at the death. A long delivery in was not dealt with and a goalbound effort amidst the crowd was somehow clawed away by Cortown Goalkeeper Colm McGearty who produced a simply ridiculous save. Some more composed defending from Decky Clarke, Charlie and Aaron Smith and Co. was enough to get Cortown over the line for an important win.

Cortown: Colm McGearty; Josh Keating, Decky Clarke, Charlie Smith; Daragh Smith, Daragh O'Halloran, Aaron Smith; Stevie Clarke, Barry Canning; Elliott Reilly, Ciaran Keating, Theo Staunton; Davy Rispin (1-0), Ryan O'Rourke (1-8, 1p, 4fs), Oisin Smith.
Subs: Hugh Staunton for O'Halloran, Kevin McGuiness for Reilly.

Referee: Kieran Olwell (Moynalty)

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