02/03 :  Young Irelands v St.Barnabas - Full Match Report

   St.Barnabas kicked off their 2010 season in fine style at Scott Hall Road, Leeds last Saturday as they overcame a weakened Young Irelands team by 1-18 to 0-1 point in the first match of their pre-season schedule. Barnabas travelled to Leeds missing seven regulars but such is the depth in the squad these days that the Nottingham club were still able to field a strong first fifteen. Barnabas flew out of the blocks from the first whistle and registered swift scores through Damian Melvin, Jack Duffy and Francis Treanor. Alan Armstrong and Jarlath Daly were dominating centre field and were a constant source of supply to the hungry forward line as well as venturing forward to register points themselves. The best move of the half came from a superbly worked move from the Barnabas full-back line through midfield and several passes later O'Hara was found on the right wing and he cut inside to float a beautiful point over. The only goal of the game came late in the first half when Ed O'Regan burst forward from wing back and latched on to a James O'Hara pass and duly lobbed the Young Irelands keeper to further extend the Nottingham advantage. The second half played out in similar fashion with the Nottingham side stemming a few brief early flurries from the Leeds forward line. Melvin and Daly added to their personal tally with fine points from range with Martin Towey playing an expert hold-up role at full forward. Jack Duffy continued to show his promise and hunger with a couple of excellent scores. Sean Friel was also to the fore in the second half and broke up the Leeds attack on several occasions. Tom Marray, Daniel Morgan and Mark Mulhern provided stubborn resistance to the Leeds attack with Morgan in particular taking the opportunity to forage forward and get himself on the scoresheet. Another excellent Nottingham move just before the final whistle resulted in a superb point by Richard Buda who had broken forward from corner back to coolly slot over the final score of the game. Michael Mills came on for Liam Greaney in the second half and imposed himself well in the forward line alongside Towey and Duffy. Shane Fitzgerald was introduced for the last few minutes and wasted no time in getting involved when he supplied a precise cross-field ball for Buda to score. All in all a solid performance from the Nottingham side with the team linking up well from backs to forwards and taking their scores well, but its early days with much rustiness still evident and there is clearly huge room for improvement in every department.

Ed  Misc  Comment(s) 0  email to someone   printer friendly  {PDF=LAN_NEWS_24^news.132}