Carnaross 4-18 St. Mary’s 1-8

Tailteann Cup (Round 1)

Played in Carnaross – 2/2/2017

Carnaross recorded a facile Tailteann Cup victory on a wet and windy Thursday evening in Carnaross. Carnaross had the game wrapped up as a contest well before half time when they raced into 2-5 to no score lead after 11 minutes. To be fair to St. Mary’s, they never gave up and put in a very spirited display to outscore the home side in the second half.

Despite playing against the wind Carnaross raced out of the blocks in their first game under new manager Tommy Shine with Stephen Flattery launching over a trademark big kick from an acute angle. This set the tone for a clinical Carnaross who dominated the first half proceedings kicking only 1 wide in the first 30 minutes. Charles Brogan was causing the Marys’ defence all sorts of problems with his movement inside and opened his account in the 2nd minute with a fine score and ended up with 1-4 from play which included some deadly accurate points. Stephen Flattery added to his account when taking advantage of a hesitant Marys rear-guard to find the onion bag. Further scores from Cillian Comaskey, Dermot McGee, Michael Brogan and Frank O Reilly extended their already substantial lead.

Frank O Reilly’s recently acquired fluorescent New Balance boots clearly worked wonders as he helped himself to 2 goals early-on in the half. The score of the night however was when Liam Brogan intercepted a Marys attack and the ball was worked up the field in a free-flowing move involving 6 Carnaross players ending up with Dermot McGee splitting the posts with aplomb. The final act of the blistering first half was when Frank O Reilly’s incisive run teed up Brogan to palm it to the net on the stroke of half time to compound the Marys’ woes giving Carnaross a commanding 4-12 to 0-3 lead.

St. Marys began the second half intent on re-establishing a contest and succeeded by scoring the first 3 points. Carnaross used this opportunity to blood some youth and emptied the bench using all 6 replacements including Liam Day and John Brogan for their first team debuts.  In fact it took substitute, “The Notorious”, Paul Donoghue to stem the flow with a fine point in the 43rd minute. Shortly afterwards, quick thinking by the Donore full forward resulted in a goal for the Newgrange men with a Michael Meehan-esque free kick struck off the ground finding the back of the Carnaross net. Fellow substitutes Shane Casserly and debutant Liam Day added their names to the scoresheet along with wing back Cian Gillic. Michael Brogan capped an industrious display with his second point of the day and was ably assisted by his midfield partner Cormac O’Reilly who began his Carnaross career with an impressive display. Donoghue’s second point brought a halt to proceedings on a superficial victory for the North Meath men.

Shine’s men will read very little into tonight’s result against a struggling and understrength St. Mary’s team. Sterner challenges definitely lie ahead but a first ever victory in the Tailteann Cup competition was a welcome return for a youthful side whose average age was a mere 22 years on the night.

Carnaross: Conor Kenny; Peter Carpenter, Tomás Plunkett, Liam Brogan; Cian Yore, Ian Donoghue, Cian Gillic (0-1); Cormac O’Reilly, Michael Brogan (0-2); Stephen Flattery (1-1), Dermot McGee (0-2), Cillian Comaskey (0-1); Frank O’Reilly (2-3, 2f), Charles Brogan (1-4), Dillon Fox: Subs: Paul Donoghue (0-2) for Frank O’Reilly; Shane Casserly (0-1) for Stephen Flattery; Dean Connell for Dermot McGee; Aidan Lynch for Cian Yore; Liam Day (0-1) for Dillon Fox; John Brogan for Ian Donoghue;

Carnaross 1-6 Meath Hill 1-11

Tailteann Cup (Round 2)

Played in Meath Hill – 12/2/2017

Meath Hill made the most of the elements in this keenly contested Tailteann Cup Quarter Final to beat Carnaross by 5 points. Carnaross failed to make use of their gale-force wind advantage in the first half and ultimately paid the price in the second half.

Carnaross got the first score of the game through wing forward Paul Donoghue. Meath Hill battled bravely against the Arctic conditions and should have registered a goal but the Carnaross goalkeeper Conor Kenny denied them with a fine double save. This spurred on Meath Hill who registered the next two points. The boisterous Frank O’Reilly steadied the ship before Dillon Fox sent over Carnaross’ third score after a cheeky sidestep. The concluding score of the half was from the boot of Cormac O’Reilly but Meath Hill should have gone into the break with a one point advantage. However, another acrobatic save from Kenny ensured The Ross held a slender 0-4 to 0-2 advantage at the break.

Meath Hill dominated the first 5 minutes of the second half scoring 4 points, 2 from placed balls and 2 from open play, to open up a one point lead. Carnaross were struggling to get the ball out of their own half and conceded a penalty in the 40th minute which McGrath converted. Carnaross were inspired by both the influence of their substitutes and the penetrating forward runs of Cian O’Reilly and lifted the intensity significantly. Frank O’Reilly converted a free and Fox doubled his tally to make a game of it again. It was a hard-hitting affair throughout with neither team shying away from the physical encounters. Meath Hill responded to the North Meath men’s revival with 3 consecutive points before Frank O’Reilly found the back of the net after Cillian Comaskey had rattled the crossbar. Carnaross searched for an elusive goal with time running out but Meath Hill continued to make full use of the elements sending over the last 2 points from distance to advance to the semi-final.

Carnaross: Conor Kenny; Peter Carpenter, Tómas Plunkett, Liam Brogan; Aidan Lynch, Ian Donoghue, Cian Gillic; Cormac O’Reilly (0-1), Michael Brogan; Shane Casserly, Cian O’Reilly, Paul Donoghue (0-1), Frank O’Reilly (1-2,1f), Charles Brogan, Dillon Fox (0-2); Subs: Cillian Comaskey for Paul Donoghue; Niall Mc Donnell for Shane Casserly; Peter Shay Farrelly for Aidan Lynch; Thomas Nugent for Ian Donoghue; Liam Day for Dillon Fox; Shane McNiffe for Conor Kenny;