Carnaross easily overcame their neighbours Drumbaragh in sun-kissed Carnaross and to remain unbeaten with five wins from five.

Carnaross 4-16 Drumbaragh 0-5

B League (Division 5)
Played in Carnaross – 28/5/2018

The dry conditions seemed to favour Carnaross’ superior fitness honed on their warm weather training camp in the West of Ireland at the weekend. It took a while for the home side to settle into proceedings as Drumbaragh were contesting well in the early stages of the contest. Eventually though, Carnaross wore down their opponents with constant movement, support play and some excellent shooting. Decky Reilly’s policy of shooting on sight paid dividends with 3 points from play in the first half.

He was ably assisted by Casserly, Dawson and Flattery who kept the scoreboard ticking over with individual points. Pierce Fleming took up the mantle and powered through the heart of the Drumbaragh defence finishing to the net with aplomb. Paddy McDermott helped himself to a goal as the Carnaross forwards were flourishing. Aidan Lynch went on a commanding run late in the half completing it with a well taken score. At half time the hoops lead 2-9 to 0-3 in sweltering conditions.

The second half began in similar vein to the first with Killian Porter bringing his tally to 3 points. Shane Casserly continued to excel as he offered a constant outlet and picked off two more scores. Decky Reilly added a 3rd goal for the home team when he reacted quickest to a save from the Drumbaragh goalkeeper to poke the ball home. Stephen Dawson completed the goal tally for the evening when he blasted a superb shot by a helpless Noel Corcoran in goals. Corcoran excelled throughout between the sticks, impressing the crowd and in particular his on-looking son, Jimmy, who performed admirably in the recent u-17 European Championships as goalkeeper.

Both teams tired as the game progressed owing to the dual impact of the Mediterranean-like conditions and the weekend’s exploits. Carnaross emptied the bench and no-one impressed more than Shane McNiffe. Dermot McGee once labelled the present goalkeeper and former underage full forward, as Carnaross’ answer to Eoin “The Bomber” Liston back in 2004 in an u-14 final against Dunsany where he impressed on the edge of the square. McNiffe rolled back the years with two well taken points, despite only being introduced with 5 minutes to play, much to the delight of his number 1 fan, Tómas Plunkett.

Carnaross ran out convincing winners in a good-spirited encounter with their local rivals Drumbaragh. In the end, the maroon and saffron men were rarely tested despite Drumbaragh’s perseverance.

Carnaross: Ollie Murphy, Aidan Lynch (0-1), John Brogan, Matt O’Reilly, Cian Yore, Thomas Nugent, Paddy Nugent, Pierce Fleming (1-0), Cian O’Reilly, Stephen Flattery (0-1), Brian Comaskey, Stephen Dawson (1-1), Shane Casserly (0-3), Decky Reilly (1-3), Paddy McDermott (1-2). Subs: Killian Porter (0-3) for Comaskey, Paul Donoghue for Flattery, Alan O Reilly for Brogan, Peter Mullan for D Reilly, Tadgh Skelly for McDermott and Shane McNiffe (0-2) for Dawson.