O’Mahonys work hard to seal quarter-final place

Navan O’Mahonys 2-19

Bective 2-16

Navan O’Mahonys were made to work hard for the victory against Bective in Simonstown on Saturday which sealed their spot in the IFC knock-out stages.

In what was a hectic start to the contest, Bective responded to an early two-pointer from Paddy Dillon with a goal which edged them ahead. O’Mahonys kept their own tally ticking with scores from Niall Higgins, Aodhan Mallon, Jack Quinn and Cormac Nugent before Bective regained the lead with their second goal.

The Brews Hill side raised two green flags toward the end of the half, the first was scored by Robin Clarke before Cormac Nugent got on the end of a good team move and found the back of the net. Those two goals before the break separated the sides at half-time as Navan O’Mahonys led 2-9 to 2-3.

In the third quarter, Bective seized momentum and brought themselves right back into contention with five points on the spin. Evan Coffey and Robbie Keelaghan both produced important scores to keep O’Mahony’s in front, before further points from Eoghan Nugent and Coffey helped see the game out.

Navan O’Mahonys: Jamie O’Reilly; Darragh Murphy, Paddy Dillon (0-2), Conor Brady; Darragh Maguire, Niall McGrane (0-1), Sean Betson; Niall Higgins (0-1), Aodhan Mallon (0-3); Cormac Nugent (1-3), Ivo Fitzherbert, Duggie Dillon; James O’Reilly, Jack Quinn (0-3), Ronan Clarke (1-0). Subs: Eoghan Nugent for O’Reilly, Evan Coffey (0-2) for Maguire, Robbie Keelaghan (0-3) for Clarke, Shane McCarthy for Quinn.