Maynooth 1-14
Castledermot 0-13
Joe Mallon Renault SFC round one
Maynooth survived a real scare in their opening victory over last year's intermediate champions Castledermot at a sun-kissed St Conleth's Park on Sunday afternoon.
The north Kildare outfit looked to be well in control when they raced into a four point lead midway through the second half against a Castledermot side that had been reduced to 14 men, but the blues hung on and almost turned over their rivals in a spirited performance.
The first half was generally open and entertaining as both teams operated with traditional systems of six forwards and six defenders each, allowing for a spectacle that was quite easy on the eye.
The quality of the scores kicked was also something to behold as both sets of players showed no fear when pulling the trigger from long distance and, more often than not, such efforts resulted in scores.
It took only three minutes for Castledermot to draw first blood in this tie as Gavin Keating confidently pointed a 30 metre free, while his full-forward line colleague and older brother David added a second soon after with a fisted effort.
Castledermot owned the ball for much of the early stages, but Maynooth gradually found their way into the game. An excellent run and point from John McAndrew signalled their first score, while Sean Sinclair added a second moments later to cancel out the blues' lead.
Gavin and Dean Farrell then raised white flags at the town end through a pair of exquisite long range efforts, with both points coming either side of a Neill Flynn free at the opposite end.
Maynooth entered a period of extreme dominance for the next 15 minutes however, as they registered five points on the trot to take a commanding lead. Chris Canning pointed the first of those scores, while a massive 45 metre effort from county U21 star Paul Mescal sailed between the posts just a minute later as Maynooth took the lead for the first time. A brace of Flynn points, the first a 55 metre free, was followed by another eye-catching point from midfielder John McAndrew as the north Kildare outfit raced into a five point lead.
Castledermot had failed to score 17 minutes, but a Gavin Keating free just before the break sent the sides in with Maynooth leading 0-8 to 0-5.
The Castledermot management were clearly animated by their side's below par display during stages of the opening half, but whatever was said at the interval, they came out like a team transformed for the first six minutes of the second half.
They completely wiped out the Maynooth lead in that period as Maynooth had no answer for their fluent attack.
David Keating instigated the scoring with a divine curling effort, while Gavin slotted over another free immediately after. Another fine Dean Farrell levelled matters before Gavin Keating put the blues ahead with a stunning free from the left sideline.
Maynooth were in need of a momentum swing, and they got just that when Castledermot's Daniel O'Keefe received a straight red card for kicking out at Neill Flynn after the county star had set up Jonathan Flattery for a point.
With momentum clearly in Maynooth's favour at that juncture they begin to exert their dominance, and a point from the excellent Michael Fahey pushed Maynooth into a lead that they would never relinquish.
The eventual winners then hit the games pivotal score as a fine individual run from Seamus McBride ended with the wing-forward slamming the ball into the back of Paul Murphy's net.
Four points ahead and with a one man advantage, Maynooth were coasting, but Castledermot hung in to really give their oppona scare.
Some excellent scores from David Keating, Gavin Keating and Dean Farrell were only responded to by a point from Fahey at the opposite end as Castledermot cut the deficit to just one point with four minutes left on the clock. Maynooth regrouped however, and points from McAndrew, Fahey and Flynn eventually saw them over the line.
Scorers for Maynooth: N Flynn 0-5(4f), S McBride 1-0, J McAndrew and M Fahey 0-3 each, C Canning, J Flattery and S Sinclair 0-1 each.
Scorers for Castledermot: G Keating 0-6f, D Farrell 0-4, D Keating 0-3, G Farrell 0-1.
Maynooth
M Donnellan; J Brennan(D Bradley 49mins), D Maguire, S Kennedy; P Mescal, S Higgins, A McAndrew; Conor Canning, J McAndrew; Chris Canning(J Walsh 53mins), P Murphy(M Fahey h/t), S McBride; S Sinclair(DJ Canning h/t), N Flynn, J Flattery.
Castledermot
P Murphy; L Cosgrave, B Kelly, V Dowling; D O'Keefe, P Murphy, Barry Nolan; JJ Mahon, G Farrell; Brian Nolan(H Germaine 50mins), G Hendy, O Doherty(A Roche 45mins); D Farrell, D Keating, G Keating.
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