ACFL Division Two
Davitt’s 1-7 St Paul’s 3-12

Micéal Duffy’s last-minute point sealed an 11-point victory for his St Paul’s side as they convincingly defeated Davitt’s on Sunday morning at Davitt Park in the Division Two Football League clash.
 
Both sides were hopeful to climb the table and potentially put pressure on the top sides in the hunt for promotion.
 
St Paul’s opened the scoring when forward Niall Ward clipped his effort over the bar to give his side an early lead. His forward partner Liam McLarnon followed up with a dipping effort to set down an early marker for the Shaws Road men.
 
Davitt’s had goalkeeper Aaron Slane pushed up into a sweeper role and his set-piece expertise showed when he drilled a long-range free to kick-start his side and finally get them into the game in the 10th minute.
 
The home side soon found an unlikely lead when Jack Scally retrieved the ball from the St Paul’s back line.

He stormed through the opposition defence and drilled an effort low and beyond the goalkeeper to make it 1-1 to 0-3 and his strike looked to bring confidence to his side as they began a nice period of possession play to take the sting out of the game.

However, their possession efforts didn’t last too long as the St Paul’s front line would pounce on a poor kick-out which landed into the palms of Liam McLarnon who blasted the effort into the roof of the Davitt’s net and put St Paul’s back in front with less than five minutes of the half to play.
 
Caoimhin Duffy would make it add another point for St Paul’s with a fantastic point from play. The corner forward used his low centre of gravity to double pivot past his marker and curl and effort high and over the bar to make it 1-6 to 1-1 in favour of his side.
 
A bizarre goal sent St Paul’s eight points to the good at half-time seconds. Aidan Finnegan found himself bearing towards the goalmouth before a tackle prevented his initial handpassed effort from going over the bar. The ball trickled into the net from the handpass by Finnegan.

Referee Paul Burns awarded a goal with his only other alternative was to send the Davitt’s defender off and award a penalty. In the name of keeping the game competitive, it was a smart decision from the referee, strange, nonetheless.
 
The half-time score saw St Paul’s 2-6 to 1-1 in front of their counterparts with Davitt’s leaving it all to do for the final 30 minutes.
 
The second period of play showed a much better effort from the home side.

Aaron Slane got his side up and running in the second half with a well-placed 45-yard point from play, as the 'sweeper keeper' showed why he is a solid option to have drift forward.
 
However, Davitt’s did start well with a few other scores from Gerard Slane and Deaglan Mooney, their efforts were very much in vain was St Paul’s continued their dominance and maintained their strong lead.

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In the 58th minute, St Paul’s sealed the tie completely. After a brilliant link-up in the forward line, corner-back Aodhan Kavanagh found himself free inside the 13 and buried his shot well beyond Slane in the Davitt’s goal to re-establish their eight-point lead.
 
St Paul’s substitute had a brilliant cameo appearance in as he scored a brace of points late in the half before Duffy would pop up with the final score of the game to finish off a dominating display from St Paul’s.
 
St Paul’s emerge victorious over Davitt’s with a score-line that reflected on their efficient and dominant performance as they left Davitt Park with an 11-point victory.
 
DAVITTS: A Slane 0-4 (2 frees), C Rainey, J Park, C Toner, N McParland, N Maginn, A Rowntree, M Connolly, D Mooney 0-2, G Slane 0-1, Jack Scally 1-0, C Park, M Rowntree, J Maguire, T McGrattan
Subs: R Slane, J O’Rawe C Browne, C Rafferty
 
ST PAUL'S: J Rodgers, A Kavanagh 1-0, P Magee, M Duffy 0-1, M Munce 0-1, N Ward 0-2, D O’Sullivan, N McStravick, P O’Hanlon, C Duffy, Ruairi Hamill 0-1, C Duffy 0-1, L McLarnon 1-3 (2 frees), A Finnegan 1-1, J Farrell
Subs: L Murphy, G McGroarty, L Phillips 0-2, E Brennan