St Marys 2-10 

Wolfe Tones 0-11

St Marys opened their account in the Tommy Dowd Oil Division 5 with a win against the visitors Wolfe Tones at a blustery Donore on Sunday morning.

The home side opened their account through Callum Reilly, before an Andrew Brien free doubled their tally. The visitors followed this with three points of their own to take an early lead. The tricky crosswind blowing across the field was making it difficult for both sets of players, leading to a number of wides on both sides early on. Marys were next to trouble the scoreboard, and it was with their first goal of the day. Good work around the breaks culminated in Brien getting on the end of a fine Sam Victory pass, and he finished emphatically from a tight angle. The sides exchanged scores once again, before Marys took control for the remainder of the half with the wind in their favour. Victory struck a two pointer to leave it double scores to the home side. Brien followed this with three scores of his own following good work Tadhg Dixon and Caimin Hughes, to leave the scoreline 1-8 to 0-4 at the break. 

The second half was a far more attritional affair for the home side, playing into the strong wind made matters that bit tougher. Tones nearly had a dream start to the half, their midfielder was denied a certain goal by a terrific Adam Byrne save. Tones then narrowed the gap with a two point free followed by two single point frees. 

Marys needed a score to gain a foothold in the game and that duly arrived a couple of minutes later. Good work by Sean Nulty in the middle of the field released Victory, whose pass found substitute Robbie Callaghan with his first touch since coming into the action. Callaghan found the onrushing Hughes who finished low and hard to the net to restore a six point cushion for Marys, having taken 15 mins to open their account in the second half. Tones replied with a score from a quick free to keep themselves in reach, before Brien responded with a free for Marys. Tones were next to hit the target with a score of their own, before Nulty capped a very impressive performance with the last score of the game. 

Plenty for the home side to work on going forward, but a good start to the campaign. Tadhg Dixon marked his appointment as St Marys captain for 2026 with a typically diminutive performance, while AJ Bradshaw and Callum Reilly drove the home side on at every opportunity.

Marys are out next away to Gaeil Colmcille in Round 2. 

St Marys: Adam Byrne; Dylan Craig, Neil Floyd, Ruairi Condra; Maithiu Brien, Liam Lynch, Callum Reilly; Adam Craven, Tadhg Dixon; Sean Nulty, AJ Bradshaw, Liam O’Brien; Andrew Brien, Caimin Hughes, Sam Victory. 

Subs: Robbie Callaghan for O’Brien, Ben Loughran for Floyd, William McSweeney for Victory. Peter Waters, Joey Greene, Kyle McKeown, Cian O’Brien, Ronan Everard.

Referee: Stephen Murphy 

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