MacCumhaills shock Naomh Conaill to take two valuable league points

Gary Wilson kicked two of the goals and Jamie Keegan the other as Sean MacCumhaills recorded only their second win of the season with a two point win over Naomh Conaill in MacCumhaill Park.

Sean MacCumhaills …….. 3-13

Naomh Conaill …………….2-14

This was a cracking game of football. Naomh Conaill were without their county men Leo McLoone, Ciaran Thompson and Eoghan McGettigan  And MacCumhaills were also without Oisin Gallen and Marty O’Reilly, who is in the US for the summer and they also lost centre-half-back Gavin Gallagher to a black card after five minutes.  

MacCumhaills led by a point at half-time thanks to goals from Wilson and Keegan and three pointed frees from Darren O’Leary.

Nathan Byrne 1-2, Dermot ‘Brick’ Molloy 0-2 and Brendan McDyer and Anthony Thompson 0-1 scored for Naomh Conaill.  

MacCumhaills got off to dream start and led 1-1 after three minutes with O’Leary converting from a close-in free for the point and seconds later Wilson struck for the first of his two goals.

But the Naomh Conaill response was swift as they responded with 1-2 without reply. The goal, their opening score, was hammered home by young Nathan Byrne. Byrne and Dermot ‘Brick’ Molloy followed with  points for a 1-2 to 1-1 lead with just seven minutes on the clock.

Naomh Conaill had the better of the next 20 or so minutes and had eased into a 1-6 to 1-3 lead as half-time beckoned and before Wilson’s goal sent the locals in one up, 2-4 to 1-6, at half-time.

Brick Molloy, Brendan McDyer, Anthony Thompson and Byrne scored the Naomh Conaill points.

MacCumhaills kicked three points to Naomh Conaill’s two on the resumption, before Wilson struck for goal number three for a 3-7 to 1-8 lead with a little over a quarter hour remaining.

Naomh Conaill, thanks to a goal and three points from Brick Molloy, cut the lead to one with a little over ten minutes remaining.

That was as close as the visitors got and as Darren O’Leary kicked the points to ensure the home win.  

SEAN MACCUMHAILLS: Eoin Gallen; Adam Lynch, Gary Dunnion,; Chris Patton (0-1), Gavin Gallagher, Luke Gavigan; Steven O'Reilly, Pauric Patton; Gary Wilson  (2-0), Jamie Keegan (1-1), Andrew McCloskey; Rory Dunleavy, Darren O'Leary (0-10,6f), Barney Lafferty.

Subs: Rory Mulligan (0-1) for  G Gallagher black card; Nathan Gavigan for B Lafferty; Ryan Finn for R Dunleavy, Conor Griffin for A Lynch; Aarion Gillhooley for R McMenamin.

NAOMH CONAILL: Stephen McGrath; Marty Boyle, A J Gallagher, Kevin McGettigan; Eunan Doherty, Sean Roarty, Logan Quinn; Seamus Corcoran (0-1), Anthony Thompson (0-1); Brendan McDyer (0-2), Odhran Doherty(0-1), Eoin Waide; Dermot ‘Brick’ Molloy (1-5,1f), Charles McGuinness (0-1,1f), Nathan Byrne (1-2).  Subs: John O’Malley (0-1) for L Quinn; Paul McGuinness for Sean Roarty.

REFEREE: Val Murray (Aodh Ruadh)