Navan O’Mahony’s 0-15 Na Fianna 2-14

O’Mahony’s suffered a five point loss to Na Fianna in their return to the Senior Hurling Championship, played in front of a big crowd in sweltering conditions in O’Growney Park Athboy.

Jack Walsh was the first man to register a score on the game, his first of many in the first half. In the fifth minute, Na Fianna took the lead with a goal, a lead which they would hold narrowly until the final whistle. Shortly afterwards, Na Fianna added another point and another in the twelfth.  A goal opportunity was denied by a save from netminder John Foley.

Walsh’s second score came in the fifteenth minute( following good play from Eoghan Nugent and Cormac Keyes) with another two to follow almost immediately, reducing the gap between the sides. Na Fianna got the next two scores before Dermot McKenna set up Walsh for another two.  With five minutes remaining in the half, another goal from Na Fianna left five in it again.

Walsh responded almost immediately with a point, nullified by a Na Fianna free at the opposite end. A good play between Walsh and Jack McConnell ended with a pass to Keyes who split the posts. A Walsh free was the last score of the game.

Navan O’Mahony’s 0-10 Na Fianna 2-07

With three points in it, it was anyone’s game going into the second half. The shadows being cast on the pitch may have been longer in the second half, but there was no let-up in the heat making conditions tough for both sides.

Na Fianna scored the first point of the second half, putting four in it. A free and a 65 from Walsh reduced the gap to two points five minutes into the half. Three minutes later, two scores from Na Fianna (one free and one from play) restored the deficit to four.

In a repeat move, Walsh added another two scores and midway through the half, it was to that separated them. By the forty-eighth minute, Na Fianna had extended their lead again. A goal opportunity for Sean McDermott was blocked down with an impressive interception from the Na Fianna defence while Foley blocked an effort at the other end of the pitch with his leg. 

After a scoreless ten minutes, Na Fianna extended the lead to five with four minutes of normal time remaining, leaving O’Mahony’s chasing goals. An opportunity in the square for Shane McCarthy was a sliver too high, going over the bar. The last score of the game came forty seconds later from Na Fianna, with O’Mahony’s unable to get the goals they needed at the end.

Navan O’Mahony’s: John Foley, Michael Reavey, Ben McEntagart, Mark Usher, Eoghan Nugent, Jack Flynn, Evan Brady, Evan Cully, Jack McConnell, Jack Walsh (0-13), Cormac Keyes (0-01), Dermot McKenna, Finn Malone, Shane McCarthy (0-01), Sean McDermott

Sean Davis for McConnell, Diarmuid O Bric for McKenna, Colm O’Toole for Brady, Rían Porter for Malone

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