SUPER SCOTSTOWN START

Scotstown 1-20
Doohamlet 1-07
By COLM SHALVEY

Scotstown made a convincing start to their defence of the SFC title with a comfortable preliminary-round win over Doohamlet in Castleblayney last Sunday. Shane Carey and Conor McCarthy tormented the Doohamlet defence, kicking 1-13 between them, as Scotstown powered to a sixth consecutive SFC win. James Turley, Dónal Morgan and Orin Heaphey were also prominent for Scotstown in the absence of the suspended Darren and Kieran Hughes, while Doohamlet struggled for scores from play and from frees without the injured Barry McGinn.
Scotstown started brightly with a brace of points from Shane Carey, before a strong run by Colin Walshe saw him earn a 13-metre free that Barry McBennett tapped over to get Doohamlet off the mark. Another foul on Walshe allowed McBennett to equalise from a 25-metre free, but Doohamlet then left Dónal Morgan wide open to regain the advantage for Scotstown, who were never caught from then on. 25-metre frees by Conor McCarthy and Carey, both after fouls on Orin Heaphey, stretched the holders’ lead and McCarthy then latched onto a long ball from James Turley to kick a fine point. Carey converted a 25-metre free after McCarthy had been brought down at the end of a pacy run and he added a point from play, having been well-placed by Morgan.
A Mark Murphy point ended Doohamlet’s 19-minute scoreless run and their 24-minute wait for a first score from play, before McBennett converted a 25-metre free for a foul on Ciarán Finnegan, only for Scotstown to restore their six-point cushion with excellent outside-of-the-boot efforts from Carey and McCarthy. Carey added another point, before Heaphey linked up with Turley to move Scotstown 0-12 to 0-4 clear at half-time.
Any hopes Doohamlet had of getting back into the game were extinguished just two minutes into the second half when McCarthy raced through to set up Carey for the opening goal. McCarthy then won and scored a 30-metre free and although Colin Walshe responded with a point, McCarthy earned another free that Carey tapped over from close range. McCarthy then set up Heaphey for a point and after making a great catch in the 43rd minute, he set off on another run that ended with the county panelist sending a goal-attempt just wide.
Doohamlet saw a number of attempts to boost their tally denied by a combination of poor finishing and the woodwork and although Murphy started the final quarter with a point, McCarthy replied with another…..