DCU 4-16
IT Carlow 0-03
DCU GAA got their Ryan Cup campaign off to a flying start with an easy win over IT Carlow last Thursday, October 15th.
Conor McGraynor opened the scoring from distance in the first minute, which was followed up by an Enda Smith point a minute later which could easily have been a goal.
Carlow eventually got their first point of the game in the fifth minute. DCU centre-back Dessie Ward lost the ball coming out of defence and a few passes later, the move was finished by Mark Sherry.
Carlow failed to build on this score and DCU found themselves starting to pull ahead. A left-footed strike from Rory Connor in between a point from play and a free from Enda Smith seen DCU lead five points to one after 10 minutes.
Carlow had to wait until the 21st minute to get their second and final score of the first half. Chris Healy popped over a 14 yard free after Conor Berry won a high ball and was pulled to the ground.
Straight from the following kick-out Conor McGraynor won the ball, stormed down the field and flicked the ball to Ryan Lyons who finished well to get DCU’s first goal that left Carlow disillusioned.
DCU added two more points before the break, the first was a good strike from distance by Dessie Ward and the second came from good defensive work by the DCU forwards who turned the ball over and Evin Keane finished well. This left the half time score 1-9 to 0-2 in DCU’s favour.
Just two minutes into the second half, DCU’s second goal came. Half time substitute Eoghan Smyth flicked the ball across the goal and Ryan Lyons was waiting to finish his second goal of the game.
Enda Smith was on fire and set up DCU’s other half time substitute Mark Plunkett for a point and corner-forward Evin Keane for another well finished goal. Carlow had no answer for Keane until he was black carded in the 40th minute for deliberately blocking an opponent.
Soon after Carlow got their only point of the second half from the boot of Longford youngster Conor Berry who fired over a great score from 35 yards.
But DCU continued to be ruthless with two great individual points from Conor McGraynor and Rory Connor. In the 53rd minute McGraynor won a penalty after being dragged down inside the square. The Wicklow man took it himself and sent it blazing over the bar.
But DCU kept pushing for a fourth goal, and it came two minutes later as Eoghan Smyth finished from close range thanks to a lovely pass from Jonathon Bealin. With 4 minutes left to play the referee blew the full time whistle, feeling that Carlow had received enough punishment for one night.
DCU: Brendan Flynn; Stephen Attride, Cian Burke, Des Reynolds; Jonathon Bealin, Dessie Ward (0-1), Colm Begley; Conor McGraynor (0-4, 0-1 45 & 0-1 Pen), Kevin Brady; Rory Connor (0-2) Enda Smith (0-4, 0-1 free), Simon McCoy; Evin Keane (1-2), Conor Bradley, Ryan Lyons (2-1, 0-1 free).
Subs: Eoghan Smyth (1-0) for Simon McCoy half time, Mark Plunkett (0-1) for Conor Bradley half time, Stephen O Brien for Enda Smith (black card) 40 mins, Ross McNerney for Dessie Ward 46 mins.
IT Carlow: Robert Samton; Thomas O Connell, Thomas Fetherson, Israel Ilunga; Niall Kane, Daniel Dunne, Rory Kelly; William Young, Mark Russell; Kevin Ryan, Mark Sherry (0-1); Conor Berry (0-1), Chris Healy (0-1 free), Cormac Murphy.
Conor Hawkins
Photo credit: Sportsfile
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