First-half goals help Derrylin ease to 11-point win

Home-side Derrylin banished the blues of relegation from Division One with an empathic win over a somewhat weakened St. Pat's, Donagh in O’Connell Park.

This win coincided with the return of big players like Luke Flanagan and Cahair Leonard who had fine games, but Leonard had to go off injured in the second-half which may be a cause of concern to manager Sean Donnelly as they go to neighbours Lisnaskea in a tough derby clash this weekend.

A purple patch midway through the first-half was the basis for this comfortable win when the home side hit two fine goals which gave them a half time lead of 2-06 to 0-04.

It was a healthy cushion which they never looked like losing.

Derrylin had a good start and had two points on the board from Jake Smith by the eighth minute.

St. Pat’s opened their account in the ninth minute with a point from their best player Thomas Cadden.

The home side hit a rich vein midway through the first-half when Ferghal McGovern flicked a Jake Smith free to the net.

He added another point and then the returned Luke Flanagan soloed half the field and confidently netted to put Derrylin in front by 2-03 to a 0-01.

Rampant Derrylin added on two more points from Aaron McGoldrick and a pointed free from Kian Prior.

Derrylin were 10 points clear after 22 minutes with St. Pat’s rallying through points from Shay Cadden and Brian McDermott.

An impressive McGovern added another point for Derrylin and Dara Foster replied with a point for St. Pat’s to leave Derrylin leading by 2-06 to 0-04 at the break.

Dara Foster pointed a free for St. Pat’s in the first minute after the break, but that made no difference as Derrylin continued to score with Diarmuid Owens replied with a point for the winners.

Shay Cadden and Jake Smith exchanged pointed free kicks and Kian Prior and Josh Smith powered through from wing-back to hit a fine point for Derrylin to leave them leading by 2-10 to 0-06 by the 40th minute.

Rory McGoldrick added another point for the O’Connell’s and Smith hit another point to extend their lead.

And any slim hope of a St. Pat’s revival was firmly quenched when Pat Grue picked up a second yellow card.

They did find the net through Thomas Cadden from a cross-field ball and he goaled to leave the score at 2-12 to 1-06.

But Derrylin finished off on a winning note with points from Owens and Prior.

“It was probably the first time all year that we had a reasonably strong side after having a litany of injuries and absentees throughout the league,” said Club Vice-President and county board delegate Vincent Martin.

“We had a tough Division One campaign and this was the first time in two months that we had everybody available that could be available.

“The only drawback is that Cahair Leonard went off injured and he was only back after a hamstring that kept him out for five or six weeks.

“He is a very good player, but we played well as a unit.”

Martin added: “Having said that Donagh were missing team captain Johnny Reilly who broke his arm, and he is a massive loss to them.

“The experience of playing in Division One stood to us and two years in Division One has done us no harm in the physical stakes as we were physically stronger.

“We now play Lisnaskea next week in Skea and they drew with Irvinestown which was a big result for them and they got a goal to draw it at the end.

“But we are happy to bounce back after suffering some heavy defeats in Division One.

“It will be a tough battle against neighbours Skea, and it is a very open Intermediate championship.

“It is very open, and a number of clubs will fancy their chances of going all the way.”