Luke O'Malley making one of many fine saves tonight

Parkvilla edged out in opener

Newly-appointed Parkvilla manager Paul Byrne got his Leinster Senior League Div 1B campaign up and running this evening when Tullamore Town visited Claremont Stadium for the opening game of the season and took the points back to Offaly following a 3-2 victory.

Tullamore were worth the three points, but Parkvilla showed good battling qualities with goalkeeper Luke O'Malley producing a number of top class saves over the 90 minutes.

Tullamore bossed the opening 45 minutes, but drew a blank on the scoreboard despite some good chances against a tentative-looking Parkvilla rearguard.

The pace picked up in the seconf-half and Tullamore hit the front through Trevor Moylan's well-struck free in the 53rd minute. The hosts were level five minutes later when Scott Reilly rifled home a free with the help of a deflection.

Hardly two minutes had elapsed before Tullamore were ahead again when Moylan converted a penalty, but once more the Navan men replied with a fine Nathan Dempsey equaliser.

Tullamore kept probing for a winner and it arrived when Enda Carroll found the net with 18 minutes remaining.

Parkvilla then lost Mick Hand to a second yellow card and Tullamore were comfortable for the remainder.

This was a great start to the season for Tullamore who were promoted last season after a number of years in junior football.

“We were short a few players tonight for a number of reasons, but that was an encouraging performance from a team with a lot of young players and we will improve,” commented the Parkvilla manager.