St Finian’s powerful win over St Pat’s

ST FINIAN’S are pushing for a promotion spot in the Adult Football Division Ten South League with a powerful performance against St Patrick’s seeing them to a 3-12 to 0-4 win.

Corner forward Mark Bennet was in prolific form for the Newcastle outfit as the hosts flexed their strength in depth to ease across the line and take the two points.

Finian’s opened their account when a long ball in was diverted by full forward Emmett O’Haire into the path of Bennett, who rounded Pat’s netminder Mikey Dunphy and hit the net.

Alan Swan doubled their goals tally a few minutes later before Michael Hanly, spotting an opening, took on the initiative to surge forward from wing forward and buried the ball home.

Despite seeing a triumvirate of green flags raised, Dunphy did have a good game in the St Pat’s goal and worked tirelessly alongside defender Aiden Galligan to keep the score down.

Meanwhile, Cathal Flood and Adam Murphy contributed to the scoring for the Palmerstown offensive.

Caoileann Daly also impressed in the engine room for the Palmerstown side, bringing a strong running game to the occasion and continued battling to the very end, despite the rising tide.

Finian’s poured forward in waves with Barry McInerney notching three scores from midfield and Jamie Furey kicking a nice point after meandering up from the left wing back position.

This bolstered their attacking output which was already firing on all cylinders through Bennett, who tallied 1-6, and wing forward Carl Fox (0-2).

Evan Burke filled in for goalkeeper Noel Foley, who was unavailable due to the passing of his father – with a minute’s silence held prior to the game as a mark of respect.

Both Cian O’Connor and William Hanley were solid in defence, helping the hosts keep a clean sheet.

Despite the game falling somewhat into disarray at the end with multiple players being dismissed, Finian’s kept their cool to see out the win and keep apace at the top of the leaderboard.

St Jude’s, Kilmacud Crokes and St Finian’s of Newcastle have all lost just one game, with the latter having a couple of games in hand which keeps them off joint-top spot.

For full access to all content on Echo.ie and to support the continuation of local news and local journalism in your community subscribe HERE.

Thanks for your ongoing support.