MINOR A FOOTBALL: Austin Stacks 1-14 (17); Dromid/Waterville 3-7 (16).
We went into this game with seven of our first choice players injured and three more unavailable. And added to this we were playing against the competition’s favourites.
But after an hour of entertaining football we emerged winners by just one point to register our first win of the season.
We lead by three points to one after six minutes with David Mannix scoring two and Jamie Lowham the other. Although the opposition hit us with two goals in the 15th and 28th minutes we kept our composure and kept chipping away with two more David Mannix points and one each by Don Quinn and Gary O’Connor.
This left us trailing by just one at half time by 2-2 to 0-7.
The second half was just six minutes old when Dromid went five points up courtesy of a 3rd minute point and a goal three minutes later.
But our lads kept to their game plan and half way through the half we had reduced that lead to just one point. Jamie Lowham, who had moved to full forward in a swap with Don Quinn, pointed in the 11th and then in the 15th came our only goal of the game which saw that ace opportunist David Mannix at the end of a great Stacks move to finish superbly to the net.
In the next 5 minutes Dromid came good again putting over three points to our one from Nicky O’Connell. This left the South Kerry boys three points clear again with ten minutes remaining.
But like at Cana long ago we kept our best wine till the last. In those last ten minutes we edged away at the lead with points by Jamie Lowham (2) and a Nicky O’Connell free to draw level. Then on the 29th minute Shane O’Callaghan put us in front for the first time since the 15th minute of the first half. Gary O’Connor stretched that to two clear points two minutes later. The opposition did get one back deep in injury time but from the kick our referee Donal Casey blew the final whistle to give us a deserved one point victory.
Team: Barry Galvin, David Hanafin, Fergal MacNamara, Ronan Shanahan (Capt), Jake O’Brien, Shane Carroll, Padraig Breen, Gary O’Connor (0-1), Jamie Lowham (0-4), Shane O’Callaghan (0-1), Nicky O’Connell (0-3 – 1 free), Frankie Murphy, David Mannix (1-4 – 2 frees), Don Quinn (0-1), David Courtney.
Sub: Tom Healy (54m).
Round 5 is scheduled to go ahead in Strand Road on this Saturday evening (28th March) at 4pm.
There is one more game to go in the group stage and that’s the postponed round 3 game at home to Laune Rangers. No date fixed as we write.
Hurling & Football Club