The seniors travelled to Faughanvale tonight for the opening league fixture of the year.
The hype around the north Derry club involvement in 'Celebrity
Bainisteoir' meant it was never going to be a straight forward fixture for
the Martin's and so it turned out to be the case.
The opening stages started brightly for Desertmartin and when Mark Madden registered the first point after just 2 minutes it looked like the Martin's were going to take the north Derry side back down to earth. However, over the following 13 minutes, which saw Desertmartin dominate, they were unable to make it count on the scoreboard and when 'the vale' eventually registered their first score after 15 minutes it left the scores at a point a piece. Further points for the home side saw them take a 0.03 to 0.01 lead after 25 minutes.
A pointed free for Desertmartin took the score back to within a point only for Faughanvale to register another point before the break to go in at half time 0.04 to 0.02 up.
Faughanvale started the second half well pointing again to leave three in it, but a fisted goal from Aidy McGuigan saw the Martin's pull back level again. With the rain now pouring down and solid footing hard to come by the game got scrappy with neither team putting together any consistency that would have seen them pull away.
The Martin's then changed things around taking on a few fresh legs up front and although now trailing by a point again, they soon got back on level par.
In the final minutes the Martin's thought they had won the game when Donal Murray pointed to put them one clear, then rattled another off the upright, but in the dying moments a free, 21 yards out gifted the home team the chance to start the season with a point and they took it.
Final score
Faughanvale 0.08 Desertmartin 1.05