Clarke goal the difference as Naomh Colmcille edge past Naomh Ultan

Naomh Colmcille made it two wins on the bounce with a hard fought victory at home over Naomh Ultan on Saturday evening.

Naomh Colmcille 1-10
Naomh Ultan 0-10

Two frees by Cian Kennedy got Naomh Ultan off to a great start before points from a Daniel Clarke free and Keenan Diver from play levelled it up on eight minutes.

 With the breeze in their backs the visitors went three points ahead with great points from distance from Patrick White (2) and Cian Kennedy before Ryan McErlean got Naomh Colmcille going again when he caught and split the posts from 30 metres. Naomh Ultan were having the better of it at midfield and Cian Kennedy again scored a super point from all of 40 metres with the right boot to increase their lead to three again. 

Stephen Gallagher then finished a great Naomh Colmcille move to blast over the bar from close range to cut the lead before Cian Kennedy pointed from a free. The game was now going from end to end and Shane Monaghan scored a great point from the right boot for the home side before Naomh Ultan full forward Sean White marked and tapped over from 20 metres on the stroke of half time to leave it Naomh Colmcille 0-5 Naomh Ultan 0-8 at the break.

With the breeze in the second half Naomh Colmcille went more direct and Daniel Clarke pointed from long range from the restart to cut the lead. Naomh Colmcille pushed up and started to dominate midfield and missed several good opportunities in this period. Then from nowhere a long speculative ball into the square from Daniel Clarke somehow found the back of the net to put the home team ahead in the game for the first time on 43. Cian Kennedy pointed from a free almost immediately to tie the game up 1-6 to 0-9 on 44 minutes.  

In the closing stages it was Naomh Colmcille who were pushing for the win and points from Keenan Diver and Shane Monaghan pushed them ahead but Cian Kennedy scored a lovely point from 35m to cut the lead to the minimum. A Daniel Clarke free with five minutes to play kept the home side two up and a Ryan McErlean point from play in injury time sealed a deserved win for the home team.

Naomh Colmcille scorers: Daniel Clarke 1-3,2f; Ryan McErlean, Keenan Diver, Shane Monaghan (1f) 0-2 each; Stephen Gallagher 0-1.
Naomh Ultan scorers: Cian Kennedy 0-7,4f; Patrick White 0-2; Sean White 0-1.

Naomh Colmcille: Matthew Whoriskey; Michael Friel, Mark Friel, Paul Friel; John Fullerton, Oisin McFadden, Ciaran Kennedy; Keenan Diver, Stephen Gallagher; Shane Monaghan, James Kernan, Reece Duncan; Tiernan Browne, Daniel Clarke, Ryan McErlean. Subs: Jamie Davenport for O McFadden; Joshua Kildea for J Kernan.
Naomh Ultan: Daniel McGlynn; Darragh Gallagher, Darragh Byrne, Kevin McGuinness; Barry Murphy, Jack Boyle, Matthew Huntley; Dermot Gallier, John Knightly; Joseph Alvey, Mark Grskiwe, Cian Kennedy; Kyle Breslin, Sean White, Patrick White.