LMFM Meath MFC Division 1 Round 1

On what turned out to be a beautiful summers evening for this 1st game of MFC against St Peters Dunboyne it showcased some great football from both sides and it led to a very exciting encounter.

Summerhill opened the scoring from a free from Eoghan Frayne after a foul on Evan Gaffney. This was followed in the next minute by a well taken goal from Dunboyne. Eoghan Frayne once again put over a superb point. Then in the 7th and 9th minutes Evan Gaffney scored two unstoppable goals. Then both teams tapped over points, again Summerhill’s coming from Eoghan Frayne. Dunboyne hit a purple patch where they took control and scored 1-01 without reply. Eoghan Frayne settled things down just before the first water break with a point from a free. The score at the 1st water break was 2-04 to 2-02 for Summerhill.

On resumption from the water break Dunboyne put over a point. Again Eoghan Frayne took the next two points for Summerhill. Dunboyne followed shortly with a point of their own. At 25mins Ben Moran put in a great tackle that stopped a Dunboyne forward bearing down on goal. Dunboyne finished the 2nd quarter as they started scoring the last point of the half. Half time score had Summerhill leading with the narrowest of margins of 2-06 to 2-05.

After Half time Dunboyne once again opened the scoring with a point from play. After the kickout Henrique Magno caught the ball and made a great run and putting the ball in the bottom corner of the goal.

This was followed by a great run from David Moore from the backline to earn a 45 which Eoghan Frayne duly put over. This was followed quickly by a Dunboyne point. Darragh McVann scored a great point from the middle of the field. Then over the next 5 minutes’ great defensive work by Oisin Hussey, Eoghan Grehan and Conor Crowell quelled any Dunboyne chances. Eoghan Frayne popped over a free from a foul on solo run by Darragh Loughrey through the middle. Dunboyne score a point at the end of the 3rd quarter. The result at the end of the 3rd quarter was 3-09 to 2-08 to Summerhill.

James Gray came on for Liam O’Neill in the final quarter. This quarter was definitely a great example of class defending by the Summerhill lads. Euan McGivern doing great tackling all day and putting Henrique in for goal which was narrowly missed. Ben Moran, David Moore, Oisin Hussey always being in the right position to catch and block Dunboyne efforts at scoring. Jack Crolly was brought on to replace Henrique Magno. Eoghan Frayne scored a point in the 53rd minute, this was followed 2 minutes later by a point from Evan Gaffney that looked like it was heading for goal. In scoring this point Evan was brought down and had to be replaced by Sean Ryan.

Summerhill ran out winners on a scoreline of 3-11 to 2-08.

TEAM: James Carroll, Mark Flaherty, David Moore, Liam O’Neill, Euan McGivern, Oisin Hussey, Darragh Loughrey, Ben Moran, Eoghan Grehan, Henrique Magno, Eoghan Frayne, Conor Crowell, Evan Gaffney, Luke Byrne, Daragh McVann.

Subs: Killian Clarke, Jack Crolly (on for Henrique Magno), Daniel Eichler, James Gray (on for Liam O’Neill), Adam Hayes, Patrick Healy, Adam McDonnell, Sean Ryan (on for Evan Gaffney)

Scorers: Eoghan Frayne 0-09 (04f), Evan Gaffney 2-01, Henrique Magno 1-00, Darragh McVann 0-01.