O'Mahonys have to be content with draw in clash of local rivals

Navan O’Mahonys....0-14

Simonstown Gaels ....0-14

Navan O’Mahony’s and Simonstown Gaels shared the spoils in the opening round of the Premier 2 FC in a sunny Walterstown on Monday evening.

Craig Munnelly O’Toole, who was impressive throughout, opened the scoring with two points in the first four minutes. Simonstown’s first point came in the eighth minute, with Jack Quinn responding immediately.

Eoin Joyce converted a 45 before Simonstown reduced the gap to two again with a point from play in the 12th minute. Munnelly O’Toole added points in the eighteenth and twenty-second minutes, although Simonstown also scored two in this time.

Jack McConnell scored an impressive point with six minutes remaining in the half, while Joyce saw out the half with a last gasp point from play to leave O’Mahony’s with a four point advantage at leath-ama, 0-8 to 0-4.

McConnell split the posts again following the resumption, as did Munnelly O’Toole. Simonstown scored two points before seven minutes had passed, while Shane Maguire added his name to the score-sheet.

The gap was reduced to two points when Simonstown split the posts three times in five minutes, leaving it all to play for in the final quarter. With a point between the sides in the sixteenth minute, Christy Dillon pointed from play to give his side a small bit of breathing space.

The sides were level with two minutes remaining until Shane McCarthy gave O’Mahony’s the narrowest of advantages, extended by a McConnell point almost straight away. Simonstown Gaels weren’t defeated however and two injury time points were enough for them to come away with their share of the points.

Navan O’Mahonys - Aaron Byrne, Craig Nolan, Paddy Dillon, Eimhin Power, Louis Collins, Mike O’Reilly, Eoghan Nugent, Shane Maguire (0-1), Christy Dillon (0-1), Jack Quinn (0-1), Eoin Joyce (0-02), Shane McCarthy (0-01), Craig Munnelly O’Toole (0-05), Jack McConnell (0-03), Hugo Fitzherbert for Quinn