St. Nicholas 2-5 v Glyde Rangers 1-6

HT 1-1 v 0-4

Glyde and St.Nicholas served up a thriller in Darver on Saturday evening in round 1 of the Junior championship. Playing into a stiff breeze in the first half St.Nicholas tried to maintain possession and work scores against a well organised Glyde defence. Scores were hard to come by with Glyde opening the scoring from a free. The nicks fought straight back with a paudi Downey free and the impressive Con Sheehan finding the back of the net. Three more frees for Glyde had it all square at the break.

An early black card was a turning point in the match. The Nicks, with an extra man for ten minutes added 1-3 to their tally. Sheehan hitting the net again along with two Downey frees and another from play.

When back up to their full complement, the Tallanstown men increased the pressure in search of a goal. A goal and a point late in the half added to a tense finish. A point from Phillip Kirwan kept the Nicks lead at two. A strong defensive effort, epitomised by a goal saving block by Dylan O'Rourke, saw the Nicks walk away with a deserved two points on the group three table.

St.Nicholas team; Shane Finegan; Stephen Finegan, Alex Finneagan, Dylan O'Rourke; Rian Farrell, Ruairi Hanlon, Aaron Flanagan; Brian Carter, Sam Reilly; Fionn Meagher, Lee Kavanagh (0-1), Phillip Kirwan (0-1); Con Sheehan (2-0), Paudi Downey (0-3,3f), Declan Heeney

Subs; Caebhan Housidari for Flanagan; Andrew Starrs for Kavanagh; Eoin McDonnell for Carter

Best for the Nicks; Alex Finnegan; Fionn Meagher, Stephen Finegan, Con Sheehan and Rian Farrell