St Peter’s, Dunboyne… 0-20
Curraha… 0-09
‘The Who’ had one of their most famous hits with Taking Care Of Business and it would have been the perfect soundtrack as those who last lifted the Keegan Cup in 2018 got their quest for this year underway in Dunshaughlin on Friday evening.
In contrast, Curraha would most likely have had the chorus of Big Yellow Taxi on repeat because there was no calculating the loss both Conor Moriarity and James McEntee were to the green and gold.
A minute’s silence was impeccably observed in memory of the late Mick Reilly of Dunboyne prior to throw-in and the deceased – who was involved in nurturing young talent the club for many years – would certainly have approved as some of Dunboyne’s younger performers, or at least players who were new to that level of football, made their mark.
Foremost among them the county U-20 duo of Jack Kinlough and Luke Carolan, while both Sean Ryan and and Mick Murphy showed the benefit of being part of the county panel this year.
Though perhaps in the greatest boost will prove to be having got 60 minutes Championship football into Seamus Lavin – figuring for the first time since the county final of 2021.
Evidently, the Canadian air didn’t do him any harm, as he was his usual commanding self on the edge of the square and his trademark surging runs upfield were instrumental in creating several scores as Ger Robinson’s charges led by 0-10 to 0-05 at the break.
Early on, Jack Kinlough and David McEntee did a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of scoring, but though both sides almost doubled their tally after the break, and whilst acknowledging the commendable efforts of the as usual impressive Diarmuid Moriarity, Dunboyne’s greater depth saw them canter home eased down at the line.
That depth came both in terms of actual numbers and the variety of scorers at their disposal. Which included custodian Liam Byrne who converted a mighty long range free late on and a particularly impressive cameo from debutante substitute Cathal Melia.
SCORERS – D. McEntee (0-5, 4F), J. Kinlough (0-4), L. Carolan and C. Melia (0-2 each), L. Byrne, C. Doran, S. McEntee, S. Ryan, R. Jones, S. Lowndes and D. Lenihan (0-1 each)
ST PETER’S – L. Byrne; J. Scannell, S. Lavin, M. Furlong; C. Doran, S. McEntee, S. Ryan; J. Donnelly, R. Jones; S. Lowndes, J. Kinlough, L. Carolan; M. Murphy, D. McEntee, D. Lenihan.
SUBS – C. Melia for Lenihan, L. Harte for Donnelly, D. Delaney for Jones, C. Smith for Lowndes, C. Finn for D. McEntee.
Referee – Keith Sheerin (Drumconrath)
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