Pearses 3-9 Menlough 1-13: Pearses Junior footballers got off to a winning start today in the Junior ‘B’ North Football Championship. They defeated neighbours Menlough in Caltra, but not after a strong second half recovery from our near neighbours.
Pearses led 2-6 to 0-3 at half-time, having dominated the first quarter of the game. The first point of the game arrived from Enda Cunniffe, before Cathal Hogan slipped the ball neatly under Menlough keeper John Gormally for the game’s first goal after just three minutes. By the 15th minute it was 1-4 to 0-0.
Pearses had the Menlough defence under pressure and Enda Cunniffe converted the chances from placed balls. Then the game’s second goal arrived on the 17th minute. A through ball from Damien Wynne found Hogan again. Hogan offloaded to Tomás Flannery who supplied the finish, 2-4 to 0-0.
This goal seemed to spark Menlough to life and they were an improved side for the remainder of the half, outscoring Pearses by 0-3 to 0-2 in this spell. Inside the first three minutes of the second half Menlough continued their fight-back, with three points in-a-row. A point from play by Adrian Bellew broke the sequence. However, it took another six minutes for the next score, a Pearses point, 2-8 to 0-6.
Another three points in-a-row from Menlough took the margin down to five. But then a decisive moment in the game as a flowing move by Pearses ended in Tomás Flannery bagging Pearses’ third goal, 3-8 to 0-9. Menlough did not give up and in the final 10 minutes of the game outscored Pearses 1-4 to 0-1. Pádraig Quirke the goalscorer for Menlough in injury time. A good win for Pearses, proving that a good start is half the battle.
Pearses: J Flannery; P Lally, L Murphy, A Finn; R Carr, F Flannery, G Lally; A Bellew (0-1), L Morrissey; T Flannery (2-1), E Cunniffe (0-7), E Ward; R Lally, C Hogan (1-0), D Wynne. Subs: N Skehill, D Skehill, J Lally.