Drumbaragh make hard work out of victory

At half-time in this JFC encounter at Simonstown on Saturday evening it looked like Drumbaragh were going to win by the proverbial mile. By the end of the 60 minutes they were just happy to see the finishing line with O'Mahonys casting a long shadow close behind. And if O'Mahonys had been more accurate going into the closing stages, it could have been a lot more nervy. The Brew Hill side could also have done without having Conor Finnegan sent off for a foul on the pacy James Connolly with four minutes still to play. Drumbargh's manager Eugene McGillick summed it up well just after the final whistle. "In the first half we did everything right, every pass went right for us, we took all our scores when they came," he said. "The second-half we never came out, we switched off and O'Mahonys came at us. We got a few scores and only for that we were in big trouble." The statistics of the game underlined McGillick's words. At the interval Drumbaragh led by a whopping 2-10 to 0-6. They produced a some scintillating football as they piled on the scores - and the misery for the team in the famous blue and white hoops. A fine example of Drumbaragh's attacking verve came in the 18th minute when William Carry, Brian Forde, Darragh McNamara, John Smith and Thomas Carry were all involved in a move that was finished off by Colm Carry slotting over. Then there was the two Drumbaragh goals, both scored in the last five minutes of the opening half. The first was expertly finished by James Connolly, the second on the stroke of half-time by Willam Carry after one of those swift-moving, defence-wrecking moves that also involved McNamara and Smith. It says a lot that all Drumbaragh's six forwards got on the scoreboard. And it was no surprise that Connolly should lead the scoring charts with 1-3. McNamara is also a player who brings plenty of pace to the Drumbaragh attack and along with Mark Smith, Colm Carry, Noel Corcoran, John Smith and Thomas Carry he made up his team's list of point-scorers. O'Mahonys just didn't perform in the opening half. They lost a number of players to the seniors the previous week and not everyone in the club was happy about that. Despite their problems they got stuck in after the break and their goal on 47 minutes came from a tasty finish by Dylan Regan after a fine run by Mickey Kelly. It left only four points between the sides. They just ran out of time and the revival was only finally quelled with two late pointed frees from John Smith. Cathal Smyth, who scored a winner for Navan Town in a u-19 Leinster soccer final the previous week, showed the way for O'Mahonys with six points (five frees) while Reilly, Evan Murtagh, Kelly and John Brennan were others to split the posts. This was a classic game of two halves for Drumbaragh while O'Mahonys were left to wonder what might have been if they had showed up for the opening 30 minutes. Drumbaragh - W Arkins; J Morrissey, B Forde, M Kavanagh; D Gogarty, W Carry (1-0), P Carry; M Smith (0-1), J Rennicks; C Carry (0-2), D McNamara (0-1), N Corcoran (0-1); J Connolly (1-3), J Smith (0-4 three frees), T Carry (0-1). Sub - R Farnan for J Smith 54 mins. Navan O'Mahonys - M Sherlock; C Lynch, C Reilly (0-1), E Murtagh (0-2); J O'Reilly, C Finnegan, D Louth; C McGuinness (0-1), G O'Dowd; D Regan (1-0), M Kelly (0-1), C Smyth (0-6 five frees); J Brennan (0-1), H Finnegan, S Keating. Subs - S O'Connor for Keating 46mins, D Dillon for McGuinness 52m. Referre - Des Smith (St Ultan's).