Calry St Josephs recorded an impressive double scores
victory in this first round Homeland senior championship game at Markievicz Park
on Sunday last.
As championship semi-finalists last year and having won the
Div 2 final just a week previously, Curry would have been considered favourites
heading into this game but the David Cummins managed Hazelwood side took the
game to their rivals from the word go and in truth could have won by more had
they been a little more accurate in front of goal.
Calry’s intent was obvious from the throw in as they looked
to create a scoring chance with a planned move straight from the throw in and
had two scores on the board within a minute from centre forward Darragh Cummins
and wing forward Daire O’Boyle, who would turn out to be two of the game’s the
two most influential players over the course of the hour.
Adrian Marren opened Curry’s account after three minutes and
the scoring continued at a frenetic pace over the first quarter of the game
with two more for Daire O’Boyle, two for midfielder Damien O’Boyle and one from
Conor Griffin for Calry with points for Adam Gallagher and the Reilly brothers Liam
and Alan at the other end.
Curry had an excellent opportunity to get ahead when Brian
Byrne put Alan Reilly in on goal but Aidan Devaney in the Calry goal parried his
piledriven effort to Marren who volleyed over the bar with his fist to leave
the score at 7-6 in favour of Calry St Josephs at the first half water break.
The shape of the game changed utterly in the second quarter
as both sides used the break to reshape their defensive strategies with the
result that only three points were scored in the run up to half time – two by Alan
Reilly for Curry – a free and a mark, and one by Daire O’Brien for Calry to
leave the score at eight points each at the interval.
The second half turned out to be wholly different again as after
swapping a point each at the start of the second half, Calry took control of
the game around the centre of the park and imposed the strong running game of
their opponents.
Amazingly Curry didn’t score again while Calry hit nine
unanswered points in a contest that in truth was over long before the final
whistle was blown – final score Calry 0-18, Curry 0-9
Calry-St Joseph’s: Aidan Devaney (0-1, 1f); Conor
Gray, Conor McGovern, Cormac Coyne; Brian Callaghan (0-1), Shaun Cawley, Brian
Shannon; Adrian Cummins, Damien O’Boyle (0-3); Ciaran Stenson, Darragh Cummins
(0-2), Daire O’Boyle (0-7, 4f); Ciaran Cummins, Conor Griffin (0-1), Darragh
O’Brien (0-2) Subs used: Brian Lynch, Eoghan Donaghy (0-1), Michael Flynn
Curry: Sean Marren; Michael Jennings, Craig
Gallagher, Dylan McLoughlin; Keith Feeley, David McDonagh, Eoghan Sweeney;
Dennis Coffey, Brian Byrne; Liam Reilly, Alan Reilly (0-3, 1f, 1 ‘mark’),
Oisin Higgins; Oisin Murphy (0-1), Adrian Marren (0-4), Adam Gallagher (0-1)
Subs used: Stephen Donoghue, Tommy Henry