NICS 4 – 1 Raphoe
Raphoe made the trek east on Saturday for an early 1 o’clock centre pass, but the visiting team were slow out of the traps. The home side, NICS, hit the ground running and had two goals on the board inside the opening eight minutes, catching Raphoe cold and pinning them in with a fierce high press. The visitors did steady the ship before the first break, winning a pair of penalty corners, but both efforts drifted wide. The quarter ended with Jay Moore producing a brilliant penalty-stroke save to keep Raphoe in the contest.
Into the second quarter, Raphoe started to look more like themselves, stringing passes together and earning more corners. But just as they were settling, NICS nabbed a third two minutes before half-time, leaving the Donegal men with a mountain to climb.
Raphoe came out in the second half with real steel. Keith Meehan, Tom Eaton and Evan Lyttle put in serious shifts through the middle, while young Jay Moore kept the score down with a couple of brave stops to shut down NICS counterattacks. Scott Devenny, drafted into an unfamiliar right-back role, dug deep and held his own.
Meehan and Eaton were jointly named Man of the Match, both leading by example all afternoon. There were also season debuts for Jack Johanson and Jonny Porter, with Porter making a real nuisance of himself and putting the NICS defence under plenty of pressure.
Raphoe’s perseverance was eventually rewarded when Meehan slammed home to make it 4–1. Chances followed for Jake McKnight, Robbie Watt and Gavin Lecky, but the NICS keeper was in top form to deny them all.
A tough day on the road for Raphoe — but plenty of grit shown, and better days surely ahead.
