Sraith Iomána Ard Mhacha 02/05/23

Babhta 3

NCC V Seán Treacy's

The seniors succumbed to their first competitive defeat of the year after a hard fought Armagh League round three game to the Seán Treacy's of Lurgan on Tuesday evening (02/05/23) in Páirc Chlochóg. In a high scoring encounter, NCC finished two points the worse to the North Armagh men, losing on a final scoreline of 1-20 to 1-18.

The Black and Red held the upper hand in the first quarter and led by three points at one stage before Seán Treacy's overturned the deficit to take a three point (0-11 to 0-8) lead into the half time break.

Gary Mulgrew carried the bulk of the scoring threat throughout the first half and had seven points to his name, with five coming from open play, before the short whistle. Oisín Mór was the other sole contributor to an NCC cause, chipping in with a nice point, that found less space to operate in than had been the case in the previous two rounds of the league.

The Lurgan men had stretched their lead out to four before Tony O'Hagan bustled the sliotar into the net after ten minutes of the second half to bring the Cilles right back into the match. It was Tony's fourth goal in three league games but the hope quickly faded after the Armagh men swept up the field to raise a green flag of their own to restore the four point cushion. From there to the end it was point for point with the Lurgan men holding out for a two point win.

Three red cards were shown on the night, two for NCC and one for Seán Treacy's, in a game, although physical throughout, could not be counted as a dirty game.

The Black and Red had decent performances from a number of players and the management can take encouragement from the displays of some of the younger lads with young Seán O’Neill in full back battling hard throughout. Conor Doherty, with number ten on his back showed some nice flashes of skill and chipped in with two good points as well.

John McGuigan and Pete Corr fought hard in the half back line and Vinny McCann grew into the game in the second half with some great bouts of high fielding and long striking all helping to keep the Cilles within touching distance of their opponents.

As in the first half, Gary Mulgrew, operating at centre half forward continued his scoring throughout the second half and ended the evening with twelve points to his name. Paul Greville chipped in with two trademark points from Drumurrer and Rory showed flashes of the old dog with some lovely touches and a nice point to his name.

Next up for NCC is a home game to Naomh Moninna of Killeavy at Páirc Chlochóg on Tuesday evening 09/05/23 with throw in at 7:15pm.

Foireann NCC: Eric Kirwan, Darragh Coney, Seán O’Neill, Tighearnáin Daly, Ryan Dubh O'Neill , John McGuigan, Paul Greville (0-2), Vinny McCann, Seán Kelly, Conor Doherty (0-2), Gary Mulgrew (0-12, 0-6 from frees), Rónán Maguire, Rory Poncánach Ó Néill (0-1), Tony O'Hagan (1-0), Oisín Mór Ó Néill (0-1)

Fir Ionaid: Peter Corr for Seán Kelly, Shéa Devlin for Paul Greville, Irwin Donnellan for Tony O'Hagan, Paddy McCusker, Daniel Taffe