Gaeil Colmcille made the trip to Paddy O’Brien Park for the second time in six days. After putting O’Mahonys to the sword in the Feis cup, Gaeil Colmcille knew that it would be a different task in the league fixture.
The teams shared four points in the opening six minutes with Brothers Fionn and Oisin Reilly getting on the board for Kells. Three placed ball scores from Brian Hanlon, one from a 45 and the other two from free kicks saw Gaeil Colmcille move three points clear on 14 minutes.
Kells were dealt a blow when they were forced into two chances with Barry Tormay and Cian Doogan both having to come off with injuries along with Conal Courtney having to receive treatment for a blood injury. This sparked the Navan men into life and his three scores without reply in a four minute spell.
The sides were level for the fourth time when Fionn Reilly tapped over his second score after shrugging off the O’Mahonys defender to get the shot off. O’Mahonys did retake the lead before the Gaeils got the opening goal of the game on 24 minutes when wing forward Evan Sheridan picked the ball up at the Navan 45 and headed straight for goal, his initial shot was saved but fell kindly to Sheridan again who pulled on the ball to the top corner.
Straight from the kickout, Kells gather and the ball found its way into the hands of Hanlon who fired beyond the O’Mahonys to see Kells pull 5 clear. Seamus Mattimoe and Hanlon added a score each before the break along with a couple of points from Navan O’Mahonys saw Kells lead 2-08 to 0-09 at Half-Time.
Substitute Ryan Farnham got the first point of the second half on 32 minutes when his mammoth shot from distance sailed over. Sheridan followed up with a score straight away and the gap was out to seven points. O’Mahonys did get the next score but it was cancelled out by Farnhams second point of the game on 36 minutes.
Hanlon extended the Gaeils lead to 8 points before Navan hit three unanswered points in a row to ensure there was something to play for in the last quarter of the match. But two points from Hanlon, another 45 and one from play, either side of a Mattimoe point pushed the lead out again to 8 points with 58 minutes on the clock and all looked cosy for Kells.
Navan rallied hard and got their first goal of the game as the clock went into the red. A point on 62 minutes closed the gap to four points. Gaeil Colmcille started to sweat when O’Mahonys bagged another goal in the fourth minute of injury time and the Navan folks sensed a comeback, but the referee came to Gaeil Colmcille’s rescue and blew the full time whistle to leave Kells in touching distance of the top three sides in the ‘A’ League Division One.
Team
Gaeil Colmcille: J Carry-Lynch, P Tormay, B Smith, D Muldoon, C Courtney, B Tormay, J Muldoon, C Doogan, O Reilly (0-01), E Sheridan (1-01), S Curran, S Mattimoe (0-02), S Reddy, F Reilly (0-02), B Hanlon (1-07). Subs: R Farnham (0-02) for Doogan, D Roche for B Tormay, L Ferguson for Reddy, D McGovern for Curran, C Mattimoe for O Reilly.
Photo credit: Hoganstand
