Connolly goal puts Vins on road to victory

Mon, 10th October 2016

ST VINCENT'S 1-14 NA FIANNA 1-6

A brilliantly taken goal by Diarmuid Connolly in first half injury-time put St Vincent's on the road to a comfortable eight-point success in this Dublin SFC second round tie at Parnell Park on Sunday.

If the half ended on a down not for the St Mobhi Road side it had opened brightly when Aaron Byrne beat Michael Savage from the penalty spot in the third minute.

However, it was the only time in the afternoon Na Fianna had the better of Savage as he made several to deny Conor McHugh in the opening half and Adam Caffrey in the second.

Vins recovered from the early goal concession to rally back with scores from Tomás Quinn (two points, one free) and Connolly (free) before concluding the half on the up with scores from Ruairi Trainor and the energetic Nathan Mullins before Connolly beat Na Fianna keeper Conor McGarville with a superb finish to lead 1-6 to 1-2 at the interval.

The sides exchanged points on the restart with Shane Carthy, Aaron Byrne, Cormac Diamon, Nathan Mullins and Byrne again on target.

Enda Varley's fisted point made it 1-10 to 1-4 to the Marino men with 15 minutes remaining.

The game petered out before the finish with Connolly concluding the scoring with a fine long-range point in added time.

SCORERS– St Vincent’s: E Varley 0-4 (0-1f), D Connolly 1-1, N Mullins, T Quinn (0-1f) 0-2 each, G Burke, S Carthy, Cormac Diamond, R Trainor, A Baxter 0-1 each.Na Fianna: A Byrne 1-2 (1-0 pen), A Caffrey 0-2 (0-2f), C McHugh (0-1f), A Fitzgerald 0-1 each.

ST VINCENT’S: M Savage; H Gill, J Curley, C Wilson; B Egan, G Brennan, N Mullins; D Murphy, S Carthy; J Feeney, D Connolly, Cameron Diamond; E Varley, R Trainor, T Quinn. Subs: Cormac Diamond for Feeney and G Burke for Murphy (ht), K Bonnie for Gill (52), F Breathnach for Brennan (53), A Baxter for Quinn (55), L Sheehy for Mullins (61).

NA FIANNA: C McCarville; J Kelly, N cooper, S Coughlan; D Kennedy, J Cooper, E Connolly; T Brady, C O’Connor; E Murchan, A Caffrey, JJ Martin; C McHugh, A Fitzgerald, A Byrne. Subs: N McGovern for Connolly (13, BC), G O’Reilly for Coughlan (40), O Ó Maoiléidigh for O’Connor (44), P Quinn for Martin (48), E Mullan for Murchan (50).

REF: R Malone (St Mary’s, Saggart).