Reids run riot as Four Masters lay down marker against St Nauls 

The pre-game chat was all about the number of injuries curtailing St Naul’s at the minute, with a huge number of bodies in the green and white jerseys absent, as well as their three county men, but Four Masters did their talking on the pitch as they added another two points to an impressive season. 

With seven different scorers and the Reid brothers dominating the middle of the park, it was the home side who bossed the majority of the match as they ran out 1-12 to 0-6 point winners in Tir Conaill Park as the sun set over Donegal Town on Friday evening. 

With these two local rivals, the result was always going to carry more weight than the performance here. 

St Nauls’ objective was to ultimately keep Masters at bay for as long as they could, as they set up a defensive block inside their 45-metre line, but that could only hold for so long until the boys in blue began to find easy gaps to nail over second-half points and advance their lead. 

Killian Faulkner started the scoring for the home side, with Four Masters winning easy opposition kickouts and quickly feeding the ball to their shooters to kick over. 

This formula was repeated throughout in the first half when minutes later Conor Reid repeated this trend, when Brian Fegan landed a kick pass into Seanán Carr who fed the younger Reid brother to slot over. 

Stephen Griffin would follow up by hitting his first of four points from a free, but Carr again was on hand to nail over two points, the latter of which could’ve ended in a goal when Joe Campbell was caught off his line, but the county U-20 opted for the point. 

Masters’ efficiency perhaps stemmed from their overall energy and urgency throughout the 60 minutes with Naul’s often caught slacking in their defense, with the home team punishing last year’s Division 3 side. 

Ian Campbell is to be praised for his attacking ability on the ball and nailed over his side’s second point after 12 minutes, but this was to be St Naul’s only point from play throughout. 

Countering St Naul’s mistakes, as well as Oisin and Conor Reid laying down a number of superb tackles, Four Masters finished the half with some fine scores from Richard O’Rourke, Carr, and Conor Reid, while Joe Leape nailed over from distance off his left. 

Naul’s looked for a comeback and nearly found the net on 28 minutes when a Joe Campbell ‘45’ dropped short, which was palmed away by Ryan Haughey. The resulting ball was loose on the ground, but Dylan Kennedy was on hand to drive out and keep his side in the lead. 

Stephen Griffin nailed over the final point of the half 10 minutes after Joe Campbell hit over his side’s third point to leave it 0-8 to 0-4 at the break. 

St Naul’s would only hit over two more frees in the second period – both from Griffin – as Masters turned the screw and controlled the affair. 

Senan Quinn would open his side’s scoring two minutes into the second half, but the scoreline would remain the same for the next 15 minutes. Four Masters would remain controlled in possession but fail to land any scores. 

Then, unlike previous games when they would fail to see the game out, the home side found a burst of energy and knocked over three fine points in the final 13 minutes, with Conor Reid, Seanán Carr, and substitute Callum McCrea all finding range, with the latter slotting over his first score in only his second game of senior football. 

Alex McCalmont was unfortunate not to find the net in the dying minutes when Conor Reid pumped in a long ball on top of the square for Faulkner to fetch, which was passed off to McCalmont, but the substitute shot wide. 

The final score saw Masters’ corner-forward Carr nail home a goal from the penalty spot after Des McGroarty was penalised for picking the ball off the ground, with the 18-year-old to fire into the top right of the net to leave him with 1-4 for the afternoon as Masters finished the match nine-point winners.  

Scorers – Four Masters: Seanán Carr 1-4, 2fs; Conor Reid 0-3, 1f; Richard O’Rourke, Callum McCrea, Killian Faulkner, Senan Quinn, and Joe Leape 0-1 each. St Naul’s: Stephen Griffin 0-4, 4fs; Joe Campbell, 1 ‘45’, and Ian Campbell 0-1 each. 

Four Masters: Ryan Haughey; Aidan McHugh, Dylan Kennedy, Brian Fegan; Aaron McCrea, Caolan Loughney, David Monaghan; Oisin Reid, Conor Reid; Richard O’Rourke, Senan Quinn, Joe Leape; Jamie Crawford, Killian Faulkner, Seanán Carr. Subs: Callum McCrea for Crawford and Alex McCalmont for Fegan (both 39 mins); Sean McKiernan for McHugh (51 mins); Conor Meehan for Quinn (53 mins); Patrick Reid for Loughney (60 mins). 

St Naul’s: Joe Campbell; John Rose, Barry Griffin, Daniel Gallagher; Martin Breslin, John Relihan, Kian McCabe; Michael Coughlan, Stephen Griffin; Barry Burke, Ian Campbell, Oisin Mogan; Des McGroarty, Declan Duignan, Shane Conneely. Subs: Jonathan O’Driscoll for Duignan (39 mins); Ryan Coughlan for Campbell (52 mins); Cathal Lowther for Burke (57 mins). 

Referee: Mark Dorrian