Yesterday in Pairc Tailteann was the venue for St. Pat’s first game of the Leinster championship against St. Benildus.The Dublin side who had a good few Kilmacud footballers playing would be a big test for St. Pats. To everyone but St. Benildus’s delight, the St. Pats ultras returned to Pairc Tailteann to cheer on the team as the 16th man which is always very important to St. Pats.

The game got off to a flying start with Neil McGinley slotting over a point with his right foot. This was greeted by a massive roar from the St. Pats fans. Neil then added a second point 4 minutes later which was wonderfully struck from the top of the D. Neil’s point started a St. Pats scoring spree with Robby Finegan and Billy Smyth scoring two points in as many minutes. Half back Mathew Kealy was brought up to take a close in free. It was a tough day for the free takers with the wind swirling inside the stadium but Mathew made no mistake and added to St. Pat’s lead.

Centre Forward Andrew Canavan was next on the score sheet with a point in the 18th minute. St. Pats really finished the second half in style scoring two goals. The first coming from Billy Smyth after he sidestepped the defender and calmly finished it into the corner and that was later followed by Lorcán O’Connor’s goal that increased St. Pat’s lead by even more. Half time score board read St. Pats 2-6 St. Benildus 0-2.

With a very strong wind against St. Pats in the second half a big performance and a good start was demanded by Mr. Peppard, Mr Tierney and Mr Reynolds. The St. Pats managers got exactly that when Andrew Canavan hit the net 54 seconds after the game had restarted. With St. Benildus having a bit of possession and converting one or two chances, St. Pats had to wait 16 minutes for their next score. Half back Mathew Kealy stepped up once again to convert another free. Two scores from substitute Sam Kirwan and a magical outside the boot point from Cian Commons kept the scoreboard ticking over. Into injury time, Andrew Canavan finished off a super St. Pats performance with yet another goal which was followed by a massive roar from the St. Pats fans. The final score was St. Pats 4-10 St. Benildus 0-5.

A brilliant performance and an even better result gets St. Pats off to the best start possible in the Leinster Championship with the focus now on for their next game.

St. Pats team: Luke Healy, Cormac Liggan, Breandán Mc Guinness, Luke Doyle, Lorcán O’Connor(1-0), James Reeves, Matthew Kealy(0-2), Darren O’Brien, Tadhg Martyn, Ciaran Quinn, Andrew Canavan(2-1), Séimí Byrne, Neil McGinley(0-2), Billy Smyth(1-1),Robby Finnegan(0-1)

By Colin Scanlon