Drom & Inch 1-09

Moycarkey/Borris 0-05

The U-21’s began the defence of their Mid A Football Championship with a convincing 7 point victory against a very spirited and youthful Moycarkey/Borris outfit. The heavy rain overnight in The Ragg made for soft conditions underfoot and made bouncing the ball difficult. In these dreadful conditions, handling errors were hard to avoid. Yet despite this, the standard of football was quite high. Drom & Inch raced into the lead with 20 seconds on the clock when corner forward Jamie Ryan gathered possession and dispatched to the oncoming Paul Kennedy, who coolly slotted a right footed effort over the bar. This put Drom in front – a lead that they never relinquished.

A second point from Kennedy, two frees from full forward Bendan Larkin and an excellent effort from Tommy Nolan put the Drom men up 5 points to 1 on the 15 minute mark.

Following a Moycarkey kick out, Tommy Nolan rose highest in midfield to clutch the ball and, refusing to take the mark, raced forward at pace, tearing the Moycarkey defence in two. He offloaded the ball to Brendan Larkin, who was waiting unmarked 12 yards out. Larkin spectacularly slotted the ball into the bottom corner with the left boot, leaving goalkeeper Rhys Shelly with no chance.

Drom ended the half with a well worked point after a long ball in seemed to be going wide but the hard working Kevin Ahearn recycled the ball back to Jamie Ryan who hand passed to Larkin. With virtually no space, Larkin fisted the ball over his right shoulder to leave the score at 1-06 to 1 point at half time.

Drom began the second half how they finished the first, with another Brendan Larkin free after some good work from corner forwards Jamie and John Ryan. Moycarkey Borris hit a purple patch on the 40th minute when they converted 4 unanswered points from county minor Anthony McKelvey (two frees) and Niall Heffernan (x2). However, Drom rallied and finished the better side with a fine free taken by Larkin from 30 meters out. An injury-time point from Paul Kennedy added the gloss to a fine display of football in wet conditions. Final score from The Ragg, Drom & Inch 1-09 Moycarkey / Borris 0-05.

Drom & Inch team and scorers

1.       Eoin Collins

2.       Rory O’Dwyer

3.       Colm Kinane

4.       Podge Campion

5.       Kevin Hassett

6.       Emmett Maloney

7.       Kevin Ahearn (Capt)

8.       Tommy Nolan (0-01)

9.       Stevie Nolan

10.   Paul Kennedy (0-03)

11.   Michael Connors

12.   Robbie Long

13.   John Ryan

14.   Brendan Larkin (1-05, 0-04 frees)

15.   Jamie Ryan

Subs

20. Aaron Ryan for Kinane (inj, 17 min)

18. Michael Clohessey for Connors (inj, HT)