Saints march on from one- sided derby clash
ST FINIAN'S................ 1- 17 NAOMH MEARNOG...... 1- 5
Wednesday September 01 2010
ST FINIAN'S turned on the style in Balgriffin on Friday night, with Scott Brennan registering nine points for the Rivervalley men.
The game was delayed by half an hour following confusion over the throw-in time, but both teams, to be fair, maintained their focus.
Finians were very quick out of the blocks, with Brennan scoring off Ross Hainsworth's pass inside the first minute.
Some terrific link-up play was to set up two further scores for Brennan, before Ritchie Fitzmaurice fired home a cracking effort into the far corner for Mearnóg with ten minutes gone in the game.
Cillian O'Driscoll then put Mearnog ahead for the first and only time, but it was shortlived, with Dublin hurler Liam Ryan winning two frees which were both converted by Brennan.
And although the mobile O'Driscoll continued to put it up to the Finian's defence, they moved further ahead with some unselfish play from Joe Greene setting up a score for Hainsworth.
Another quick pass from Greene opened up the Mearnog defence again, with Keith O'Neill this time the one to profit, before Mearnóg midfielder Gerry Feeney pointed from the left to end a 14minute dry spell for the Portmarnock outfit.
However, it proved but a brief respite, with Brennan registering two more scores before O'Driscoll completed the first half proceedings with a free to leave it 0-9 to 1-3. Good work from the Mearnog centre forward, Robert Gibbs, then set up an easy free for O'Driscoll which he converted to cut the gap to two points.
And although James Gahan produced an excellent save off Warren Hanley, Finian's kept up the pressure with scores from Greene, Ryan and Barry to move the gap out to five on 42 minutes.
Scores each side of an O'Driscoll free from Brennan and Hugh Smith saw further daylight put between the teams and following another Brennan free, O'Neill scored straight off a kickout to effectively put the game beyond Mearnóg.
The two last scores came from Finian's two hard-working half forwards, Karl Kiernan and Hainsworth, with Kiernan, having raised the white flag, then setting up Hainsworth who finished the game with a cracking shot into the keeper's top-right corner. ST FINIAN'S: James Shelly, Paul Timothy, Eamon McGill, Barry Kavanagh, Tony Kiernan, Dominic Harris, Kieran Magee, Darren Barry 0-1, Warren Hanley, Karl Kiernan 0-1, Liam Ryan 0-1, Ross Hainsworth 1-1, Keith O'Neill 0-2, Joe Greene 0-1, Scott Brennan 0-9 ( 0-4f). Subs: John McGowan for Harris, Michael Butler for Kavanagh, Hugh Smith 0-1. NAOMH MEARNÓG: James Gahan, Kevin Lee, David White, Seamus O'Cearra, Rob Stafford, Mark Kenny, Ray Dinnegan, Gerry Feeney 0-1, Donal Donohue, Brian Doyle, Robert Gibbs, Richie Fitzmaurice 1-0, Cillian O' Driscoll 0-4 ( 0-3f), Cormac Doherty, Colm O'Driscoll. Subs: Jimmy Keogh for Fitzmaurice, Kieran O Callaghan for Doherty.
