Teemore 0-11 Irvinestown 2-10

Irvinestown continued their unbeaten start to the season with a five-point win over Teemore at St. Mary’s Park.

The two teams met for the first time since last year’s Intermediate Championship semi-final in Tempo that went the distance as Teemore eventually came out on top in extra-time but it was a different story on Friday evening as Irvinestown inflicted their revenge on the Shamrocks.

Shane McDermott’s side picked up two points on their travels while Teemore added a point to their names going into this year’s league campaign.

Teemore manager Tony Collins said Friday’s game was a close encounter decided by Irvinestown’s finishing prowess.

“The reality is that Irvinestown took their scores and we missed ours, we had a couple of goal chances that we didn’t take,” he said.

“We had a couple of good shots saved on our behalf at the same time from James (Maguire). There was very little between the sides with both teams missing substantial players.”

Irvinestown were awarded a penalty seconds after the throw-up to make it an ideal start to the game.

A high ball kicked into the area saw Barry Goodwin go down after being pulled down.

And despite the Teemore pleas that the foul occurred outside the area Goodwin stepped up and converted the spot kick himself.

The away side added four points to the half with Kevin McDonnell, Ronan Ormsby, Gary Maguire and Goodwin all on target.

Jason McCaffrey fired over the bar in between scores from Eoin McManus for the home side.

Aaron Lee added another point before two more McManus points before half-time but Irvinestown would find the net before the break again as a fleeting attack ended in Gary Maguire racing in behind and fisting across goal for Ormsby to run in and palm to the net to make the score 2-04 to 0-06 at the interval.

The sides traded scores in the second half but the goals proved pivotal for the Naomh Molaise side as Teemore were unable to claw their way back into it.

Points from McDonnell, Maguire, Ormsby and Conor O’Hanlon kept the Irvinestown ahead despite points through Lee (2), McManus, Kieran Fitzpatrick and Cian McManus.

Irvinestown will be aiming for a swift return to Division One when they officially kick off their league campaign having suffered relegation last season.