Curraha took on Gaeil Colmcille in their second game of the Fairyhouse Steel Senior Football Championship, after suffering a defeat to Dunboyne in the opening round.
Despite playing into a strong breeze, Curraha got off to a positive start and registered the opening 2 scores of the game. Niall McLarnon, Curraha's best performer on the day, secured possession at the throw in and following a good team move he gained possession again and kicked a fine score. Niall Murphy got the second point following another good move, with an excellent ball from Oisin Fay finding Murphy on the run, and he alooted it over well. The Kells outfit responded qell, and began to make good use of the wind with some excellent direct football i to their full forward line. By the 10th minute, they had moved into a 3 point lead. They added 2 more scores in the next 10 minutes before Jack O'Connor got Curraha's next score, after good work from Conor Joyce and McLarnon. Kells pointed again in the 28th minute to lead by 5 and then struck a decisive blow in the contest when a quick break saw them score the opening goal on the stroke of half time, leaving them 8 points in front at the break.
Curraha started brightly in the second half, but with 4 early wides they failed to capitalise on this and were punished as they conceded a penalty when goalkeeper Luke McCarthy was harshly judged to have committed a foul as he challenged in the air to deal with a high ball delivered into the square. The resulting penalty pushed the gap between the sides to 11, and a Kells free made it 12 soon after. Ronan Flynn scored a close range free to steady the ship somewhat for Curraha, and there was a glimmer of hope with 14 minutes played when Niall Murphy got on the end of a loose ball played across by Jack O'Connor to fire to the net. Curraha secured possession from the kickout and Seamus Hogan fired over to reduce the gap to 7 again. Kells got a score off their own, which was immediately cancelled out by a brilliant Ronan Flynn point from almost on the endline, curling over from a tight angle after a well worked free. With 10 minutes to go, there was still a chance for Curraha to get back into the game, but credit to Gaeil Colmcille who managed the closing stages very well, and were determined to not give up any further goal chances. They got forward for one further score themselves, cancelled out by a fine point from Curraha substitute Ruairì O'Sullivan. In the end the 2 goals either side of half time were crucial in deciding this game, and Gaeil Colmcille ended up as deserved winners.
Next up for Curraha is the final group game against Wolfe Tones in Walterstown on September 9th.
Full Time Curraha 1-7 Dunboyne 2-11
Curraha: Luke McCarthy, Oisin Fay, Matthew Webb, Seamus Hogan, Padraic O'Hanrahan, Michael John Lavin, Niall Murphy (1-1), Diarmuid Moriarty, Niall McLarnon, Conor Joyce, Jack O'Connor, Brian Joyce, David Coyle, James McEntee, Ronan Flynn (0-2)
Subs: Mark Jackson for Conor Joyce, Gavin Coyle for David Coyle, Ruairì O'Sullivan (0-1) for Brian Joyce, Jared Roche for Ronan Flynn
