St Mary’s 1-10 Cortown 0-9

Exactly 365 days on from their last Championship encounter, St Mary’s reversed the fortunes with victory over Cortown on Sunday evening in Paddy O’Brien Park.

Cortown led for three quarters of the contest but a Sam Victory goal inside the final 10 minutes swung the game decisively in the direction of the Donore men who seen the game out in good style.

It was Cortown playing with a slight albeit awkward wind advantage in the opening half who controlled the early proceedings. A brace of early Hugh Staunton frees from close range nosed Martin McGovern’s troops into an early advantage with the sole riposte coming in the form of a Cormac Victory free down the other end.

Conditions were difficult with the crosswind and slippery underfoot conditions from the showers throughout the day so quality football was very much at a premium. Stevie Clarke and Davy Rispin did muster a couple of long-range efforts for the men in yellow who attempted to make the most of the elements.

Nicky Gogan’s charges did cling onto Cortown’s coattails with Cormac Victory once again proving his worth from dead-balls. However late scores approaching half-time from Brían Smith and another Staunton free gave Cortown a four-point half time advantage, 0-7 to 0-3.

The error-ridden nature of the game continued in the early stages of the second with the sides sharing four points between them (two apiece). Smith clipped over another whilst Staunton dispatched an excellent free off the ground from 45 metres.

Cortown still lead by four with 15 to go but remarkably would not raise another white flag for the remainder of the clash. It was the ultimate invitation to Mary’s to seize the initiative and four straight points from the Victory brothers Sam and Cormac had the sides level entering the final 5 minutes.

The hammer blow arrived shortly after when an ambitious shot from the Newgrange men dropped well short of it’s intended target. However, Cortown struggled to clear their lines allowing Sam Victory to nip in and net the all-important goal, his third in two games.

With time ebbing away, Cortown could not recover and succumbed to an opening day loss and a frustrating start to their Junior B campaign. Mary’s with a win and a draw now have a month to build towards a Quarter-Final, the result of Kilmainhamwood and Cortown in a fortnights time will determine whether they go through as group winners or runners-up.

Cortown: Colm McGearty; Barry Canning, Decky Clarke, Charlie Smith; Daragh Smith, Theo Staunton, Ciaran Keating; Mikey Rennicks, Luca Brady; Micky Costello, Hugh Staunton (0-5 frees), Kevin Muldoon; Davy Rispin (0-1), Brían Smith (0-2), Stevie Clarke (0-1).

Subs: Elliot Reilly for Costello, Tommy Smith for Muldoon, Daragh O’Halloran for Rispin.

Referee: Gus Martyn (Dundery)

 

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