Honours even between old Meath rivals

Two of the oldest clubs in the Royal County, Parkvilla and Kells Celtic, kicked-off the Meath & District League Div 2 season in a four-goal thriller at Claremont Stadium, Navan on Friday evening. While Kells Celtic have the edge in terms of history, Parkvilla were making their real debut in the local league despite the fact that they campaigned briefly in the MDL almost 20 years ago with a third team from the club which comprised veterans and it didn"t last on that occasion. This time around, there is a different agenda and not only will Parkvilla complete the journey this season, they could be considered as potential title contenders at this grade after the stood up to a tough examination from a potentially promising Kells Celtic outfit. The history of Kells Celtic includes a great search for a permanent home. That quest continues, something like the Shamrock Rovers journey in the League of Ireland, but unfortunately for Kells, there is no Tallaght Stadium looming on the horizon and the role of nomads could be their fate indefinitely. This season, like so many others, they will play their home games in Navan, so this journey to Claremont Stadium didn"t pose any great problems, that is, until the game started. Parkvilla passed the ball with confidence for the opening 25 minutes and managed two goals during their period in the ascendancy. Kells could have scored first in a rare attack which left Seanie Curran one-on-one with home custodian Jason Galvin and the netminder won the duel. Soon after that escape, John Power gave Parkvilla the lead and midway through the half, the Kells defence combined to create an opening for Parkvilla"s Mark McCabe which was accepted gratefully. Parkvilla secretary John Lynch made an astute comment on the sideline - ' a two-goal lead is dangerous, we need another one' - and the first part of his statement proved correct. Kells upped the tempo and blitzed Galvin with a series of shots which he saved smartly from Shane McGeough and Ronan McManus. However, the pressure paid off five minutes from the interval when Barry Tormey crossed to the far post where Curran headed powerfully to the bottom corner. Buoyed by that goal, Kells came out with all guns blazing for the second-half, but they had to wait until nine minutes from time before the hard-working Gary Arkins rifled home the equaliser off the woodwork. Substitute Colm Carry unleashed a ferocious drive from 30 metres which skimmed the top of the crossbar and in the final minute, Barry Tormay missed a sitter when a defender did enough to put him off from heading to the net from about three metres. Overall, a draw was a fair result and both teams will definitely benefit from this outing. 'I"m very pleased with that performance, we were missing four or five players for various reasons and once our fitness levels improve we will pose more of a threat,' commented Parkvilla manager Vernon Savage. 'I"m only in the job two weeks, we haven"t had much of a chance to prepare, I was impressed with the discipline of the team and it was encouraging to recover from two goals down, we could have won it at the end, but a draw was fair,' stated Kells Celtic manager Paul Smith. Next up for Parkvilla is a trip to Drogheda next Sunday to play Chord Celtic while Kells will tackle Bohermeen in another away game. Referee Kieran Dowdall also had an excellent game and performed his duties in a quiet and efficient way. Two Parkvilla players received yellow cards, Rory Devlin and substitute Brian Rogers. Parkvilla - Jason Galvin; Emmet Kennedy, Conor O"Callaghan, Scott Browne, David Dunne, Rory Devlin, Gavin Brady, Kenny Gavin, John Power, Mark McCabe, Michael Rogers. Subs - Brian Rogers for M Rogers, James Power for Brady. Kells Celtic - Anthony Burke; Paul Tormay, Matthew Balfe, Seamus Deignan, Lee Gavin, Mark Butler, Barry Tormey, Gary Arkins, Sean Curran, Shane McGeough, Ronan McManus. Subs - Conor McManus for Curran, Colm Carry for Balfe, Mark Heery for Butler. Referee - Kieran Dowdall (Meath Branch).