A HL Div. 4 Round 4
06/05/16
FT Na Fianna 0-15 Drumree 2-07
As Drumree made their way to Baconstown on a sunny Friday evening for this match the management team were keeping their fingers crossed that they had 15 players to field a team, what they weren’t expecting was 20 players togged out ready for action. They came from far flung places such as Podge Smith from Toronto & Johnny Gilsenan from Kilmessan.
Drumree started well with Curtis Rattigan racing forward from his half back position to calmly slot over a nice point from out along the wing. A goal soon followed when the evergreen Ronan Curley sent the sliothar towards the Na Fianna goals from 50 yards out, the sun seemed to catch out the keeper as the sliothar sailed past him & into the back of the net. The 1st half finished with well taken points from John ‘The Craic’ O’Callaghan & The Horse Rooney with a booming 80 yard free. Curleys goal was the difference between the sides as the half time whistle blew it was Drumree 1-05 Na Fianna 0-05.
It was two different sides that emerged for the 2nd half as Na Fianna were far more dominant & Drumree didn’t seem to be able to reproduce their 1st half efforts. Steven Doyle converted 3 frees over the hour while a second goal came 10 minutes into the half when Petey Rattigan who was wearing questionable footwear pounced on a mistake by a Na Fianna defender to drive the ball to the net.
Na Fianna notched up 10 points in the 2nd half to take a 3 point lead into the final few minutes. As Drumree pushed for what would be a levelling goal Ronan Curley was hauled down 20 yards out as he was making a bee line for the Na Fianna goal, his Sam Boyle-esque roar as he was felled was enough to convince anyone within a 5 mile radius that it was a free however it would only result in a converted point as time ran out on Drumree & Na Finna held a 2 point lead as the final whistle blew.
Best for Drumree were Paul Kiernan, Cillian Dennehy & Curtis Rattigan.
Drumree: Ronan Gilsenan, Paul Kiernan, Rob Lyons, Jack Leonard, Curtis Rattigan (0-01), Keith Rooney (0-01), Johnny Gilsenan, Cillian Dennehy, John O’Callaghan (0-01), Eoin Reilly, Brendan Walsh, GT Troy, Brian Walsh, Ronan Curley (1-00), Steven Doyle (0-04).
Subs: Liam Shanley for Eoin Reilly (Inj.), Petey Rattigan (0-01) for Brian Walsh, Darragh Kennedy for Jack Leonard.
Na Fianna: Davey Reilly, Niall Burke, Marty Dixon, Mark Burke, Mark Kelly (0-2), Noel O'Sullivan, Joe Mc Guinness, Evan Mullally, Cian Slattery, Eoin Gorry(0-08, 6F), Domhnaill Curran (0-2), Mark Slevin (0-2), Damien Downey, Sean Griffin (0-1) & Martin Kelly.
Sub: Johnny Mc Donagh & David Coffey.
