Great start to the championship in Pairc Tailteann with win over St Patrick’s

If Carlsberg did IFC opening rounds, they couldn’t do any better for Oldcastle than the lads did themselves in their first outing against St. Pat’s in HQ Pairc Tailteann! It was like a different world in Navan (10/8/2024): with the sun shining and a breeze in our favour in the first half, it was Robbie Farrelly who got the first score up with a fine point from play. Nice work from James Cooke got the ball upfield soon after, finally ending up with the on-fire Pearse Sheridan, who put her over the bar. The kick-out from this one was brought down with a fine catch from Ronan Maguire, on to Robbie Farrelly who was upended, the resulting free converted by CJ, followed soon after by another score made by great work from CJ, great ball in to Robbie, mark; score!

St. Pat’s got their first point soon after, but the kickout found Oldcastle’s Pearse Sheridan, ball on to Jason Scully who was already on a run, super pass to CJ Healy on his own run, and finally to Rory Crawley, ideally positioned in the goalmouth, and it was Rory with the final touch for Oldcastle’s first goal!

St. Pat’s got another point, but CJ took one for Oldcastle, and after a period where Oldcastle maybe wasted chances, a Robbie Farrelly free provided the next score. Another free from CJ and a fine point from Keith Connell saw the half time score at Oldcastle 1-08, St. Pats 0-03.

St. Pat’s took the first point after the start, but Robbie Farrelly put one up for Oldcastle soon after. St. Pat’s came back with a point, but just as you were wondering if they could come back, Lee Healy passed the ball back to Conor McHugh, on to Dylan Garrigan, to Pearse, to Ronan, on to Oran Mulvanny, back to Pearse, to Keith Connell, Pearse again, to Ronan, to James Cooke and a great run upfield, on to Robbie, Ronan, Pearse, back to Ronan, to Lee Healy, on to Keith Connell, back to Pearse and from there to Conor Delaney who got a super final pass to Keith Connell who smashed her to the back of the net!

The recently engaged James Cooke was also on-fire, and his efforts also resulted in a goal soon after, to put Oldcastle out of reach! It was icing on the cake when Pearse Sheridan made the most of a super pass from Jason Scully and put another kung-fu style goal on the board! It was nearly merciful when referee Joseph Curran blew the final whistle, a super Oldcastle win against St. Pats!

Oldcastle: Conor McHugh, Oran O’Reilly, Cian McPartland, Dylan Garrigan, James Cooke (1-00), Stephen Lawless, Lee Healy, Pearse Sheridan (1-01), Oran Mulvanny, Ronan Maguire, C J Healy (0-05), Keith Connell (1-01), Jason Scully, Robbie Farrelly (0-04), Rory Crawley (1-00). Subs: Conor Delaney, Darren Hawdon, Paul Hennessey, Louis Colleran, James Gibney.