White’s Cross got their league campaign off to the best possible start when they recorded a victory away to St. Vincents on a dry but cold Sunday afternoon last. It was Vincents that opened the scoring within one minute with a nice point from play. In truth they dominated the opening 15 minutes in terms of possession, chances created and number of scores taken. However, while they were getting points White’s Cross were finding the back of the net. Stephen Whooley and Conor Docherty but raised green flags after they, themselves, had made a run through the defence. Barry Prendergast could have added a third goal but his shot rebounded, unluckily, off the crossbar. At the first quarter mark, though, the Cross were happy to lead on score of 2-0 to 0-04. From then to the end of the half, White’s Cross extended their lead. Luke Kelleher added the next point; the first for his side after 17 minutes had elapsed in the game. The same player got an assist to his name as he set up Conor Buckley. Conor Docherty and Stephen Whooley were really getting into their groove and their strong running caused the home side to struggle. This led to White’s Cross extending their lead by 6 points. Just before half-time a shot from distance that looked to be going over for a point, hit the White’s Cross upright. A more alert Vincent’s forward line pounced for a goal to reduce the lead to 4 points at the interval; 2-06 to 1-05.
Conor Docherty got a super score on the restart to bring his tally to 1-03 from play. Conor Buckley added another from a free shortly after to extend the lead to six points. Vincents clawed their way back into the game though when they scored the three of the next four points with Shane Cahill getting one back for White’s Cross. Cahill would also get the key score of the second half when he finished to the back of the net on the 18th minute following a fine pass from Conor Docherty who was having a great game. This had the score at 3-09 to 1-08. To their credit Vincents kept battling and added four more points from there to the end of the game. They could have reduced the gap further had it not been for assured performances from Ruairi Teehan in goal and Cormac Dervan at full-back. Some late points from Killian Ryan (from play) and Conor Buckley (from a free) also eased the pressure on a side that were living dangerously at the end. However, the victory was deserved and a good start to the season despite missing many prominent players was very satisfying.
Team Ruairi Teehan, Cormac Manning, Cormac Dervan, Gearoid Flemming, Cian Murphy, Ethan Ryan, Senan Ryan, Barry Prendergast, Killian Ryan (0-01), Stephen Whooley (1-00), Conor Buckley (0-04; 0-02 frees) , Luke Kelleher(0-01), Conor Docherty (1-03), Shane Cahill (1-01), Donncha Murnane (0-01 free). Subs Patrick Harrington for Shane Cahill, Richie Sherlock for Cian Murphy, Adam Kent for Senan Ryan