Na Fianna 2-18 Gaeil Colmcille 1-13

Gaeil Colmcille suffered their first defeat since the opening round of fixtures when Na Fianna overcame a half time deficit to win by eight points at Enfield on Tuesday evening. 

In a slow burner of a start from both sides, a two pointer free from Andrew Gormley opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Seamus Mattimoe followed that a minute later to put Kells three up. The home side struck two in a row while Gaeil Colmcille stuttered in front of goal with a number of wides as well as a missed goal opportunity from Brian Hanlon after his soccer style effort was well saved.

A second Mattimoe point pushed Gaeil Colmcille two clear and it wasn't until the 25th minute before Na Fianna brought it back to the minimum. Kells had their best spell as within 30 seconds of each other, Ryan Farnham racked up 1-02 for the visitors. First a lovely two pointer was followed by a brilliant team move that left Farnham shooting low to the back of the net to open up a six point lead. Na Fianna grabbed the last two scores of the half to cut the lead to 4 points and the Enfield/Baconstown outfit would have the breeze in the second half.

Daniel Farrelly opened the scoring for Kells in the second half after he gathered a loose ball in the forward line and he blasted over the bar. The turning point in the game came in the third to eighth minute of the second half when Na Fianna hit 2-02 to no reply to take control of the game, the first goal coming after Na Fianna intercepted a short Kells kickout and lobbed Dylan Roche in the Kells goal while a penalty excellently tucked away saw Na Fianna lead by three with 38 minutes played.

Gormley tapped over a free while substitute Ajay Tormey scored from an acute angle to cut the gap to a point but thats as close as Kells would get in the final quarter as three points in a row pushed Na Fianna four clear with 10 minutes remaining. Tormey had a goal chance but he saw his effort beat the goalkeeper but cleared off the line before Gormley added a free in the 50th minute. 

Na Fianna used the conditions to their advantage and two points either side of a two-pointer all but put the game to bed as they led by seven with five minutes remaining. Credit to Kells they kept searching for goals and Eoghan Flynn saw an effort go wide and after Referee Jason Plunkett had his hand up for an advantage, Gormley struck over the two point free.

Second half substitute Charlie Twomey had the chance to set up a nervy finish when Kells were awarded a penalty but the Na Fianna goalkeeper was equal to Twomey's effort and kept the lead at seven points. Na Fianna outscored Kells two points to Mattimoe's goal effort that was tipped over and the win sees Na Fianna go level with Skryne in the bid to stay in Division 1.

Gaeil Colmcille: Dylan Roche, Max Chamberlayne, Paul Tormay, Fionn Smith, John Gormley, Jordan Muldoon, Dan Farrelly (0-01), Liam Ferguson, Aaron Browne, Seamus Mattimoe (0-03), Ryan Farnham (1-02), Liam Barry, Conor Óg Ferguson, Andrew Gormley (0-06), Brian Hanlon.

Subs: Barry Tormay, Ajay Tormey (0-01), Ahmed Lawal, Charlie Twomey, Daniel Muldoon, Eoghan Flynn

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