Mitchelstown 0-03 Shanballymore 4-14
On Sunday morning our Footballers travelled the short distance to play Mitchelstown in our first game of 2019.

This fixture has proved tricky for us in recent years with Mitchelstown getting the better of us several times in recent years.

Fortunately for Shanballymore, this one turned out differently with the scoreline firmly in our favour. Shanballymore pressed hard in the opening quarter to open up a five points to one lead. Our midfield, in particular, were very strong, with Eoin and Robert McHugh linking well with both wing backs and wing forwards.

A successful first half saw all six forwards get on the scoresheet, with Eoin O’Regan accurate on free taking duties added to by some excellent points from play for Vincie Burke and Darragh Palmer

Our backs were solid as a rock also, with Darren Roche making some great bursts out of defence. The gap at half time could have been even greater, but for a few close wides as we struggled to find our shooting boots form tighter angles.

Half time saw us go in with a 0-11 to 0-1 advantage.

The second half saw Mitchelstown return to the field with a full complement and the home side began to compete very well for the ball until two sudden breakaways saw Shanballymore bounce for a pair of well-taken goals.

Excellent running and link play from our midfielders get the ball to the feet of Darragh Palmer, allowed him to blast home the opening goal. Alan Sheedy then showed great composure to fire home a rapid second.

Another good point from Vincie Burke interrupted our goal scoring run before Eoin McHugh netted a third goal. A chance for redemption came for Mitchelstown midway through the 2nd half when they were awarded a penalty for holding in the box.

Luck was firmly against them though, and the shot went wide. They did get the next two scores however, thanks to some great counter-attacking play. The game ended with a fourth goal for SBM by substitute Jimmy Burke after some good work from Eoin McHugh and Shaun Cronin.

Team and Scorers: S Donegan, J Sheedy, B Sheedy, D Roche, C O’Reilly (0-1), S Lynch, R Hallihan, E McHugh (1-1), R McHugh, V Burke (0-2), B O’Reilly (0-1), D Palmer (1-1), A Sheedy (1-3), M Burke (0-1), E O’Regan (0-2, 1 free).

SUBS: K Barry (0-2) for V Burke, N Barry for E O’Regan, S Cronin for A Sheedy, J Burke (1-0) for B O’Reilly, B Hayes for C O’Reilly, J Hayes for D Roche.