Summerhill welcomed visitors Duleek/Bellewstown on a cool but bright Sunday morning in round 1 of the Reserve Cup Division 1. The visitors got off to the best start hitting to frees to take the lead with 10 minutes gone. Summerhill got off the mark in the 13th minute with a point from Conor Lyons which was followed quickly by the a goal from Eamonn McDonnell who latched to a Conor Summerville shot that had dropped short. Two more points from McDonnell and Conor Lyons saw Summerhill stretch the lead to four points in the run up to halftime. Summerhill scored their second goal when good work from Pauric Ennis resulted in McDonnell firing the ball to the back of the net for his second goal of the game. The visitors replied with a point on the stroke of half time to leave the halftime score 2-3 to 0-3.
Summerhill opened the scoring in the second-half with a good point from Jack Bannon and further points from Jamie O’Shea saw the home side stretch the lead out to 8 points midway through the half. Summerhill lost Conor Ryan to a red card when he picked up his 2nd yellow card with 10 minutes gone in the half. A penalty in the 16th minute for a foot block was duly dispatched to the net for the visitors to bring them back into the game. Two further points from Jamie O’Shea frees extended the Summerhill push the lead out to what looked like a comfortable seven points. The visitors to their credit did not throw in the towel and hit 1-3 without reply to close the gap to just a single point by the time referee Noel Reilly blew the final whistle. Final score Summerhill 2-8 Duleek/Bellewstown 2-7. Special mention for Sean Burke who made his debut in adult football, hopefully Sean will have a long and successful career in the Summerhill jersey ahead of them.
Team: Robbie McDonnell, Darren Chapman, Darragh Loughrey, Mark Donoghue, Darragh McVann, Jack Davies, Donal Matthews, Gavin McVann, Conor Ryan, Conor Summerville, Kevin Lyons, James Gray, Eamonn McDonnell (2-1), Conor Lyons (0-2), Pauric Ennis.
Subs: Jack Bannon (0-1) for Pauric Ennis, Jamie O’Shea (0-4, 3f) for Connor Lyons, Sean Burke for Kevin Lyons, Kian Hussey for Eamonn McDonnell, Sean Hughes for James Gray, David Myles for Gavin McVann, Mark Flaherty for Darren Chapman.