Naomh Muire continue their good early form with win away against Gaeil Fhánada

Naomh Muire continued on their good early season form in Division 2 of the All County League with a comprehensive win over Gael Fhánada in Shiels Park, despite being short their talisman forward Eoin Martin.

They were 0-10 to 1-4 ahead at the interval and ran out very easy winners in the second half. The conversion of an early second half penalty set the wheels in motion for a ten minute period of Naomh Muire dominance which put the game to bed.

Naomh Muire played with the aid of a substantial breeze in the first half, a half where Gaeil Fhánada would have been reasonably pleased with their showing despite trailing by three points at the interval.

The hosts played away from the clubhouse, and opened the scoring, finding the back of the net as Brandon McClafferty was on hand to finish a rebound to the net. 

Naomh Muire soon got into their stride however, landing three scores on the bounce, one of them a two point effort to lead by the minimum at the quarter hour mark. 

The hosts responded well, and Darren McElwaine split the posts twice in as many minutes to move Gaeil Fhánada into the lead in the nineteenth minute. The two point scores were very much in evidence yesterday, and Naomh Muire fired three of them in the first half. They struck  one point free, and then a two point free to move two clear in the 23rd minute before a Ronan McAteer effort halved the gap with five minutes remaining in the opening half.

The next two points were shared, as Mark McAteer landed a free, but Danny O’ Donnell’s side had the final say of the half, landing their third two pointer of the afternoon before the short whistle. Naomh Muire 0-10 Gaeil Fhánada 1-4

With the wind at their backs, albeit reduced, for the second half, Gaeil Fhánada would’ve been hopeful of getting right back into the game, but were dealt a huge blow when a penalty was awarded against them in the third minute, for an alleged foot block. 

The visitors made no mistake from the spot, and they really kicked on, despite a Mark McAteer free kick in response. Naomh Muire fired the next four scores, a goal and three points on the spin to open up a significant lead at the 45 minute mark. Eight further points were hit in the final quarter, four from each team, with Mark McAteer accounting for all four from a Fanad perspective. 

Gaeil Fhánada scorers: Mark McAteer 0-6; Brandon McClafferty 1-0; Darren McElwaine 0-2; Ronan McAteer 0-1.

Naomh Muire scorers: Daniel Devlin, Harry Harden 1-3 each; Joey Gillespie, Cathal Fee 0-3 each; Paul Boyle 0-2; Ryan Gallagher, Jack O’Donnell 0-1 each.

Gaeil Fhánada: Eoin McGonigle, Ciarán Sweeney, Shaun Kerr, Paddy Heraghty, Calum McAteer, Oisín Shiels, Ronan McAteer, Shaun Carr, Bernard McGettigan, Brandon McClafferty, Darren McElwaine, Oisín McFadden, Mark McAteer, Conor Heraghty, James Kerr. Darragh O’ Doherty for Calum McAteer, Shane Carr for Mark McAteer.

Naomh Muire: Declan Ward, Conor Cannon, Ferdia Doherty, Corraith Doherty, Jack O'Donnell, Fintan Doherty, Tuathail Lunny, Patrick Gillespie, Darragh Doherty, Joey Gillespie, Shaun Burns, Daniel Devlin, Harry Harden, Paul Boyle, Cathal Fee; Subs Daniel Gallagher for C Doherty, Odhran Kavanagh for H Harden, Ryan Gallagher for P Boyle.