Excitement was high among Bective supporters when they visited Longwood for this first round Corn Na Boinne cup match on a mostly sunny Wednesday evening. All available players were togged out and eager to get the call to arms from new manager Kevin Dowd and his mgmt. team. Longwood had less manpower to hand and were missing four or five of their strong players who were on County duty. However it was Longwood who blazed into an early lead with a strong run from midfield and finished with a fine point after 30 seconds. Bective reset and Marty Mulhall opened their scoring with a point on 4 minutes. Longwood responded with a point on 6 minutes. After some good moves but no scores achieved Bective rolled off 4 points between the 12th and 16th minutes from Paul Lyness, Mulhall, Craig Roche and Cathal Mc Connell. Longwood replied with a fine point but tight and fast defending from the Bective backs, with Dermot McKenna and David Keating to the fore, were giving very few scoring chances away. Sean Keating and Paul McCabe fire over 2 points for Bective. A high ball into the Longwood square was not secured and Keating pounced on the loose ball and finished to the net on 27 minutes. Mulhall added a point and Scott O’Sullivan who put in a great first shift in adult football roamed from half back and fisted over after a fine run. Longwood point again before Keating anticipated a breaking ball from a high ball into the square and, again, finished to the net on 32 minutes and brought the half time score to Bective 2 – 9, Longwood 0 – 4.
Mark O’Brien replaced Keating for the start of the second half but it was Longwood who opened best with 2 points before Mulhall kicked over for Bective. O’Brien pointed on 10 minutes and Mulhall again scored on 11 minutes. Bective intensity looked likely to keep control of the outcome of this match but Longwood thought differently and drove through the middle and booted to the back of the net. However the ref had blown for a foul and awarded a penalty. Bective’s goalie Dylan Kenny made a fine save but the rebound was sent to the net on 12 minutes. Brian Cantwell came on and contributed 4 points over the rest of this match with his trusty left boot along with further points from Lyness, Mc Cabe and Roche. Dara Maguire (14 mins), Shane Breslin (14 mins) and Colm Barry (18 mins) came on and contributed well to this fine Bective performance.
Bective 2 -19, Longwood 1 – 07.
Bective team:
Dylan Kenny, Ben Malone, Jack Clarke, Jack Grant, Dermot McKenna, David Keating, Scott O’Sullivan, Paul Lyness, Ciaran Reilly, Craig Roche, Cathal Mc Connell, Paul McCabe, Colin O’Rourke, Marty Mulhall, Sean Keating.
