St Marys 1-15 St Vincents 1-18 

St Marys came up just short against a strong St Vincent’s outfit on Wednesday night in a very well presented Ardcath. 

Both teams came into the game shy of a full strength squad, Vincents fielding 10 starters from their Junior Final appearance in 2025, with Marys fielding 8 starters from their Junior B final victory last year. After a very narrow defeat on Sunday against Slane in a game Marys felt they left behind them, they were no doubt aiming to put in a strong performance again. 

Both teams swapped scores early on, with Vincents Adam Tuite along with Marys Andrew Brien and Sam Victory prominent in these exchanges. The first half was very nip and tuck between both sides, with plenty of free flowing attacking football on display. Marys current early season injury issues were compounded early on when the influential Sean Nulty had to retire on 15 mins, his replacement Callum Reilly in only his second senior appearance was thrust into the action, and to his credit brought an electric energy to proceedings immediately and throughout. The sides both had chances to stretch the lead with goal opportunities as the half wore on; Marys netminder Adam Byrne pulled off two excellent reflex saves to keep the opposition at bay, while the impressive Dylan Craig also found himself in a promising position on one of his many forays forward, narrowly missing the target on that occasion. As the half wore on, the contest between Tuite and Brien continued, with both players kicking some exceptional scores in the process. With the scores tied just shy of half time, Vincent’s hit a quick fire 1-1 to lead by 4 at the break, which was possibly an unfair reflection given the Marys strong first half performance. 

At the beginning of the second half, it was Marys who came out of the blocks quickest. A Brien free was followed by an excellent Tadhg Dixon goal, following a flowing team move. With plenty still to do, Dixon fired low towards the corner, which Vincents outstretched netminder Evan Connor could only help on its way to the net. This levelled proceedings again and it was game on again. The sides continued to trade scores, Vincents finding their range once more through the two Tuites the aforementioned Adam and Gary, while captain for the night Brien was ably supported in the scoring stakes by the industrious Eoin Jackson, AJ Bradshaw following a lightning counter attack, and substitute Robbie Callaghan. Heading into the closing stages, Marys huffed and puffed but despite playing some excellent football, some expected early season rustiness on the ball gave the hosts some extra impetus, and this along with the superior two point scoring threat of Vincents meant that by the time referee Hugo Whoriskey blew his final whistle, Marys had just come up short, in what was overall a very engaging and fast paced contest. 

This result ends St Marys hopes of progressing to the knockout stages, but there will be a huge sense of optimism for the year ahead, given two excellent performances across higher league opposition across the opening two rounds of the cup. This will hold Marys in good stead heading into the first round of the league at home to Wolfe Tones on 15th March. 

St Marys: Adam Byrne; Liam Lynch, Neil Floyd, Ruairi Condra; Dylan Craig, Adam Craven, Maithiu Brien; Sean Nulty, Tadhg Dixon; Cormac Victory, Eoin Jackson; Andrew Brien, James Lynch, Sam Victory. 

Subs: Callum Reilly for Nulty, Robbie Callaghan for S Victory, Cian O’Brien for J Lynch 

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