St. Nicholas 1-7
Sean McDermots 1-7
HT 0-4 v 0-5
It was a real battle in the Gaelic grounds in round two of the JFC group 4 on Friday evening. Following defeats in round 1 both sides started nervously with wides from both teams. Kevin Walsh opened the scoring from a free for the Nicks with Phillip Kirwan adding a second from play. Midway through the half the intensity spilled over for both teams with McDermots losing a man to a red card for striking and the Nicks losing two players to black cards. The 14 men from Ardee seemed energised by the dismissal and they had the score all square from two frees. The Nicks had lost all their early momentum and the McDermots extended their lead with two from play. Roy Kierans and another Walsh dead ball drew the Nicks all square but the Seans edged in front at the break with another free.
The play didn't change much for the second half with both defences on top. Points were exchanged to keep the Sean Mcdermots with the minimum advantage, Barry Woods was the Nicks scorer. With ten to go the Seans found the back of the net and, with the nature of the game, what looked to be an unassailable lead of 1-6 v 0-5. Another Walsh free was cancelled out by a Seans free to hold the 4 point advantage with 5mins to go. A Kierans point from play brought the Nicks back within one score heading to full time. A massive turnover from the Nicks full back line led to a full pitch movement culminating in Paddy Murtagh punching the equalising score. The draw leaving both teams with a chance of progression to the quarter finals.
St.Nicholas team: Jason O'Boyle; Kieran Floyd, Darren Thornton, Andrew Starrs; Alex Finnegan, Johnny Carter, Ciaran O'Brien; Declan Heeney, Kevin Walsh (0-3,3f); Phillip Kirwan (0-1), Jason Maguire, Vinny O'Hare; Roy Kierans (0-2), John Heeney, Keith Cluskey
Subs: Barry Woods (0-1) for Maguire (BC), Richie Campbell for O'Hare (BC), Paddy Murtagh (1-0) for J. Heeney, Alan Gregory for Thornton, Eddie Carr for Carter
Best for the Nicks: Alex finnegan, Andrew Starrs and Roy Kierans
