St Peters sail to victory over Curraha in SFC opener

The Dunboyne-based side pulled clear of their opponents in the second-half

Meath SFC

St Peter’s 0-20

Curraha 0-9

St Peter's made a winning start with a comprehensive win over a slightly depleted Curraha in this Meath SFC opener on Friday evening in Dunshaughlin. The contest also saw the return of former Meath manager, Andy McEntee to the sideline of his native St Peter's in the role of selector.

A total tally of 0-20 slightly flatters the Dunboyne-based side and Curraha's individual mistakes led to a sizeable chunk of St Peter's scores, especially in the second half. To their credit though, 11 different St Peter’s men contributed to their tally which proves that they are no longer as overreliant on Donal Lenihan in the scoring department as they have been in the past.

Curraha were without the services of two massive players in James McEntee and Conor Moriarty. While it may not have changed the outcome of the result, the absence of those two stars was clearly felt on a night to forget for Damien Flanagan’s men.

Summerhill manager Conor Gillespie was in attendance on the night and one can assume that the former Meath midfielder made the trip back to the home of the county champions satisfied that neither of these two teams would cause his Summerhill side any issues in the defence of their title.

St Peter’s kicked off proceedings with points from Ronan Jones and Donal Lenihan. Opposing half-backs Shane McEntee and Padraig O’Hanrahan traded scores as Curraha opened their account. Jack Kinlough added his name to the scoreboard with two well-taken scores either side of a Luke Carolan point as St Peter’s raced into an early lead of 0-6 to 0-1 after 10 minutes.

Not to be outdone by his no.11 counterpart, Curraha’s Jack O’Connor also added two points either side of a Ronan Flynn score and after 20 minutes only three points separated the sides. In the battle of the Jacks, Kinlough then responded by rattling off two points in quick succession before Sean Ryan and Flynn traded scores to wrap up the half. St Peter’s went in at the break with a 0-10 to 0-5 lead.

A disastrous opening 10 minutes in the second-half for Curraha saw them outscored 0-5 to 0-1, during which they struggled they struggled to get the ball outside of their own 45. David McEntee provided the first three of those five Dunboyne points before half-time sub, Cathal Melia and Stuart Lowndes extended St Peter’s lead to 11.

10 minutes and two more Dunboyne scores passed before Curraha got another score on the board. Eventually, Diarmuid Moriarty’s attempt from distance went sailing over the bar. Moriarty added another to Curraha’s tally but his efforts had arrived too late in the day and points from Luke Carolan and Liam Byrne sealed a wide-margin victory for St Peter’s.

St Peter’s – Liam Byrne (0-1, one 45’); Jack Scannell, Seamus Lavin, Mark Furlong; Conor Doran (0-1), Shane McEntee (0-1), Sean Ryan (0-1); Jack Donnelly, Ronan Jones (0-1); Stuart Lowndes (0-1, one mark), Jack Kinlough (0-4), Luke Carolan (0-2, one mark); Michael Murphy, David McEntee (0-5, four frees), Donal Lenihan (0-1, one free). Subs – Cathal Melia (0-2, one mark) for Lenihan HT, Cathal Finn for D McEntee 53m, Luke Harte for Donnelly 55m, Cian Smith for Lowndes, Diarmuid Delany for Jones both 57m

Curraha – Luke McCarthy; Oisin Fay, Matthew Webb, Seamus Hogan; Padraic O’Hanrahan (0-1), Niall Murphy, Sean Ronan; Diarmuid Moriarty (0-2, one free), Niall McLarnon (0-1); Conor Joyce, Jack O’Connor (0-2, two frees), Brian Joyce; Ronan Flynn(0-3, two frees), David Coyle, Gavin Coyle. Subs – Jarod Roche for G Coyle 51m, Dylan Rowland for Hogan 55m, Daigh Fitzpatrick for D Coyle 30m.

Referee – Keith Sheerin