Go Ahead – AHL 6

Naomh Olaf 0 7 Ballyboden St. Enda’s 3 19

On a windy, brisk and overcast morning, a first outing for the, now, Junior Bs since their Junior ‘C’ County Final loss to Lucan Sarsfields in November, was characterised by the leisurely tardiness of the referee’s eventful appearance and a 15 minutes late throw-in. Vintage mid-July championship hurling it was not, but on an early season, heavy sod and new faces to integrate, getting minutes into the legs and building momentum with a win was just what Messrs Small and Duff ordered.

The nerves were settled by points from Séan Lambert and Ciarán Twomey, before one of the aforementioned new faces, Morgan Ryan landed three in a row, one of which went over from somewhere on the Sandyford Road. Ryan top-scored, with 11 in total in a great display of point taking, both from play and placed balls.

‘Boden had five points on the board before Olaf’s scored two of their own but offered little more facing into a stiff breeze in the first half. Before the first 30 minutes came to an end,  Ben Hurley pointed a brace and veteran Brian Cummins chipped in with 1-2 of his own – the goal coming from a great interception from a misplaced puck-out before he finished empathically to the net. All tolled ‘boden were 1-13 to 0-2 to the good at the turnaround, but still with work to do facing the breeze after the interval.

Olaf’s showed well in the early stages of the second half, pointing the first two. Responses from Ciarán Twomey and debutant Daniel Davy cancelled out the host’s positive start and we drove on from there, working the ball well around the park with Ryan pointing the next four without reply. A further three points from Olaf’s was as good as it got for the home side and two late goals, one from another debutant John Farrington and a 40m lob from Micháel Manning put additional gloss on the scoreline. The winning margin of 21 points didn’t flatter ‘boden, but there are tougher tasks to come.

Standout performances from Ryan, Twomey and Lennox bode well for the season to come.  Tús maith le na hoibre!

Panel

Ross McCormack, Brian Kennedy, Kevin Brady, Alan McGovern, John McCormack, Darren Lennox, Michael Manning, Séan Lambert, Dennis Callinan, Ben Hurley, Ciarán Twomey, Morgan Ryan, Dave Keville, Brian Cummins, Hugh Nolan.

Substitutes; Mark McGovern, Oisín Cannon, Daniel Davy, Séan O’Shea, John Farrington, Timmy Dooley.