Lough Crew open Regional FC with impressive victory

In typical Dunganny weather the inaugural Meath Regional FC got off to an encouraging start tonight as the north Meath combination of Oldcastle, Ballinlough, Moylagh and St Brigid's, representing Lough Crew, scored a 4-12 to 0-12 victory over Bru na Boinne's combined forces from St Patrick's, Duleek/Bellewstown, St Vincent's and St Mary's.

Despite the driving wind and rain that blew across the wide open expanses of pitch one at Meath GAA's Centre of Excellence there was plenty of decent football as Lough Crew survived the 14th minute dismissal of Oldcastle's Dylan Garrigan to score an impressive win for manager Davy Nelson and his selectors Vinny Ryan, Martin Blake, Gerry Gibney and Paddy Gilsenan.

Garrigan's straight red card came seconds after CJ Healy was issued with a black card, but despite being down to 13 players Lough Crew held their own and shared six points in that 10 minute spell before Healy's return.

Despite playing the majority of the game at a numerical disadvantage, both sides did finish with 14 after David Tallon picked up a second yellow in the 53rd minute for Bru na Boinne, Lough Crew were the better side.

The north Meath combination had a better defensive shape with Michael Flood excelling and Stephen Lawless also impressing. Sean Geraghty and especially Sean Reilly were outstanding in midfield and with Jason Scully exhibiting more than a few moments of brilliance Lough Crew rarely looked in trouble.

It took Lough Crew eight minutes to find their feet in the difficult conditions and in that early spell Bru na Boinne dominated with two well worked scores from St Patrick's Donal Landy giving them the early edge.

However, once Lough Crew found their rhythm they cut Bru na Boinne open with Scully, Robbie Farrelly and Colin Hawdon all combining before Farrelly fired a fine goal to give his side a lead they didn't relinquish.

Reilly stretched that advantage with a converted free and in the 11th minute Lough Crew bagged their second goal when outstanding play by Reilly released Scully who finished brilliantly to make it 2-1 to 0-2.

That goal tally could have been three moments later, but Evan Connor did well to deny Hawdon before Healy was black carded for blocking a run and then Galligan saw red following an off the ball clash.

Bru na Boinne looked to take advantage of their numerical supremacy and closed the gap with points from Donal Landy and Jamie Flaherty (mark), but Lough Crew continued to be dangerous as Farrelly was denied a goal by an outstretched foot before Oisin McDermott converted the resultant '45'.

St Vincent's Mark Crawley traded points with Reilly before Farrelly landed another for Lough Crew as Healy returned with the score 2-4 to 0-5 in his side's favour.

Hawdon stretched that lead with a point from a mark, but before the break Jamie Crosby pulled one back for Bru na Boinne as they trailed 0-6 to 2-5 at the interval.

There was some confusion at half-time as the referee Andrew Smith had a different scoreline to most others, but that discrepancy didn't matter in the end as Lough Crew continued to dominate after the break.

Hawdon added a point within 90 seconds of the restart and the issue was effectively settled a minute later when Farrelly, Harry Ryan and Scully combined to set up Ryan for Lough Crew's third goal.

Hawdon added a point before Bru na Boinne enjoyed a mini-revival with scores from Flaherty, Shane Landy (free), Donal Landy (free) and St Vincent's Leo Corry making it 0-10 to 3-7 (or 0-11 to 3-6 in the referee's book).

However Bru na Boinne then lost Tallon to a second yellow card and Lough Crew made sure there was no disputing the outcome with Reilly (free), Joseph Blake, Scully and the excellent Pearse Sheridan stretching their side's lead to 3-11 to 0-10.

Kevin Gilsenan added Lough Crew's fourth goal in the 63rd minute sandwiched between points for Bru na Boinne from Donal and Shane Landy, but it was the excellent Scully who had the last word with the point of the game to cap a fine win and a superb performance as Lough Crew got their regional campaign off to the perfect start.

SCORERS

Lough Crew - Jason Scully 1-2; Robbie Farrelly 1-1; Harry Ryan 1-0; Kevin Gilsenan 1-0; Colin Hawdon 0-3 one mark; Sean Reilly 0-3 frees; Oisin McDermott 0-1 '45'; Joseph Blake 0-1; Pearse Sheridan 0-1.

Bru na Boinne - Donal Landy 0-5 two frees; Shane Landy 0-2 one free; Jamie Flaherty 0-2 one mark; Mark Crawley 0-1; Jamie Crosby 0-1; Leo Corry 0-1.

TEAMS

Lough Crew - Oisin McDermott (Ballinlough); Dylan Garrigan (Oldcastle), Michael Flood (St Brigid's), Kevin Gilsenan (St Brigid's); Ronan Maguire (Oldcastle), Stephen Lawless (Oldcastle), Darren Gibney (Moylagh); Sean Reilly (Moylagh), Sean Geraghty (Ballinlough); Pearse Sheridan (Oldcastle), Jason Scully (Oldcastle), Harry Ryan (Ballinlough); CJ Healy (Oldcastle), Robbie Farrelly (Oldcastle), Colin Hawdon (Oldcastle). Subs - Thomas O'Reilly (Moylagh) for Healy 45 mins, Joe Blake (St Brigid's) for Farrelly 48m, Oran Mulvaney (Oldcastle) for Geraghty 53m, Oran O'Reilly (Oldcastle) for Ryan 60m, Rory Gibney (Moylagh) for Hawdon 63m. Pakie Kevin (Oldcastle), Conor McHugh (Oldcastle), Shane Gibney (Moylagh), Luke Blake (St brigid's), Dylan Briody (St Brigid's), Tom Shine (Ballinlough), Daire Shine (Ballinlough), Daragh Caffrey (Ballinlough), Cian McPartland (Oldcastle).

Bru na Boinne - Evan Connor (St Vincent's); Mark Crawley (St Vincent's), David Tallon (St Vincent's), Graham Tully (St Mary's); Conor Harford (St Vincent's), Ryan Hand (St Vincent's), Cian Ryan (Duleek/Bellewstown); Shane Crosby (Duleek/Bellewstown), Barry Mooney (St Patrick's),; Jamie Crosby (Duleek/Bellewstown), Jamie Flaherty (Duleek/Bellewstown), Leo Corry (St Vincent's); Ciaran Flynn (Duleek/Bellewstown), Liam O'Neill (St Mary's), Donal Landy (St Patrick's). Subs - Shane Landy (St Patrick's) for Mooney 29 mins, Sam Victory (St Mary's) for Flaherty 41m, Gary Tuite (St Vincent's) for O'Neill 48m, Dylan McCready (St Patrick's) for J Crosby 58m. Ryan Lynch (Duleek/Bellewstown), Ciaran Sullivan (St Patrick's), Nigel Hand (St Vincent's), Barry O'Sullivan (St Vincent's), Adam Byrne (St Patrick's), Conor White (St Vincent's), Robbie Lynch (St Vincent's), Martin Fox (St Vincent's), Kevin Cassidy (St Patrick's), Ben Loughran (St Mary's), Sean Hackett (St Patrick's), Johnny McDonnell (Duleek/Bellewstown), Shane Dowling (St Patrick's).

Referee - Andrew Smith (Dunshaughlin).