Friday saw the St. Pat’s senior team’s first outing of the year. They faced a good Maynooth side who brought physicality to the game, however in the end, this was no match for St. Pat’s senior team.
St. Pat’s got off to a shaky start, conceding a goal four minutes into the game but responded quickly when Robby Finnegan found the top left corner of the goal in a very well worked move. Points from James Reeves and Andrew Canavan helped St. Pat’s into an early lead. Cian
Commons added another goal which was the first of four goals in the space of ten minutes. A well taken penalty from Robby Finnegan in the 21 st minute, an excellent team goal smartly finished off by Billy Smyth in the 24th minute and a calmly slotted finish from Oisín O’Neill in the 26th minute concluded St. Pat’s goal scoring spree. St. Pat’s led 5-3 to 1-7 at halftime.
St. Pat’s started the second half with 2 points from Cian Commons and 3 minutes later added a 3rd point from Billy Smyth. Maynooth fought back, scoring 1-3 going into the final 15 minutes of the game but St. Pat’s held the lead 5-6 to 2-10.
For the last 15 minutes the teams were swapped around. This didn’t weaken St. Pat’s at all as they kicked a further 5 points. The final whistle blew and St. Pat’s were victorious with a score line of 5-11 to 2-15. This was a great start to the year and signals a big year ahead.
St. Pat’s team: Luke Healy, Cormac Liggan, Danny Waters, Colm O’Toole, Ciarán Quinn, Tadhg Martin, James Reeves (0-1), Darren O’Brien, Cian Commons (1-2) Séimí Byrne, Robby Finnegan (2-1), Andrew Canavan (0-1), Luke Cahill, Oisin O’Neill (1-0), Billy Smyth (1-1)
By Colin Scanlon