St Patrick’s Lisburn 1-13 O’Donnell’s 1-8

Division 3 table toppers Naomh Padraig Lisburn took a giant stride towards sealing the league title when they beat O’Donnell’s on Wednesday evening at Kirkwood Park.

The win, their eighth in a row, virtually seals the title for the Lisburn men who are four points clear of their nearest rivals with just two games left to play.

Their visitors to Kirkwood Park on Wednesday evening made Naomh Padraig work for their win. They took the lead in the second minute with a Darragh Walsh point, and it was a further eight minutes before Naomh Padraig drew level with a pointed free from Conor Dixon. Within a minute O’Donnell’s were back ahead as Richard McAvoy scored from play, but points from Ben McMullan and Conor Ewing put the Lisburn men in front for the first time.

An Eoin Dixon point on 18 minutes put the home team two to the good, but two minutes later O’Donnell’s were back ahead when Richard McAvoy fired the ball to the St Patrick’s net. A great run from half back saw Oisin O’Gorman level matters again and Eoin Dixon put his team back in front, but three in a row from the Whiterock Road men pushed them two clear as the game entered added time at the end of the first half. St Patrick’s needed a lift going into the break and they got it when Conor Dixon showed his class as he sidestepped the O’Donnell’s goalkeeper and fired to the net to give his team the upper hand at the interval.

O’Donnell’s came out strongly at the start of the second half and two points from Cailean Walsh gave his team the edge yet again. Points from Eoin Dixon and Josh McMullan midway through the half finally settled the home side nerves, and though Eugene Gallagher responded with a point for O’D’s the home side pushed on to hit the last three points of the game, one from Colm Burns and two from Eoin Dixon to seal the win and take a big stride towards the league title