| St Marys edge past Joes in high quality encounter |
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| Tuesday, 31 May 2011 09:10 |
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The final act of the clubs La na gClub celebration would draw a good crowd from both clubs as well as a number of very interested neutrals! The game would not disappoint the neutral as this open and high scoring game was highly entertaining and not without its drama! The Joes entered the game looking to maintain their second place spot in the division. It was the Marys who played with the advantage of the wind in the first half that was blowing towards the road end, but it was the Joes who started brightest, leading by 1-2 to 0-2 after eight minutes of play, 1-1 of this coming from Alan Mc Kenna with back to back scores. The cheeky finish to the goal, being an immediate reply to Paudie Clarke’s first minute point. Peter Mulligan won the resultant kickout which lead to a very good point from Mc Kenna. The other point coming from Conal O Hanlon, after Philip Kinahan had blocked down a Marys shot at goal to start of a length of the field move. But it was at this stage that the visitors really got going and dominated for the next 20 minutes, with six unanswered points, two of them from frees. This period also included seven wides for them, showing that they could have further capitalised on this dominance. Two of these points coming from RJ Callaghan, and two from Alan Kirk, there was also a good point from Brian Mc Coy. A Derek Mulligan point in the 29th minute got the Joes back on the scoreboard, before he played in Alan Lynch for a goal chance that was saved, which would have actually put the Joes into the lead! From the save the Marys worked the ball downfield for a Paudie Clarke point, which was quickly followed by an Alan Kirk point from 40 yards out. The Ardee men were fully deserving of their four point half time lead and it could well have been more if they had been more accurate in front of goal. Half Time Score: St Josephs 1-3, St Marys 0-10 The Marys stretched their lead out to six points in the opening minutes of the second half with two fine points from Paudie Clarke. These were cancelled out by two equally good points from Derek Mulligan, the second one coming from a move started by Robert Sansom pulling a shot for a certain point from over his crossbar. The next score would be for the Marys, when Fergal Diamond ghosted in behind the Joes defence to point from play and push their lead back out to five points. At this stage the Joes had their second scoring period of the game, hitting 1-3 unanswered to level the game. Alan Quigley hit the first point, before Derek Mulligan found John Murtagh unmarked on the edge of the square for the midfielders third goal in as many games. Alan Mc Kenna then showed great composure to hit the leveler off his right boot in the 13th minute. Then in the space of eight minutes it was the Marys who hit 1-3 themselves, the sole reply from the Joes being a solitary Conal O Hanlon point, that was set up by a great ball out of defence from Anthony Keenan. The goal was an excellent individual effort from RJ Callaghan, evading two Joes backs on his way through to burying the ball in the roof of the net. But with only six minutes of normal time remaining the home team set about tackling the five point deficit again. An O Hanlon point from distance was the kickstart, with Peter Mulligan winning the resultant kickout and driving through to set up Conal for his second point in a minute. Mulligan hit the next point himself with a Gary Owen effort, before his midfield partner scrapped one over the bar in the 28th minute to leave just the bar minimum between the sides. The Joes had one more chance at a leveling point in normal time, before the real drama, that came in the second minute of injury time. Derek Mulligan drove hard at the Marys goal from the right corner, with the option of fisting a point he passed to the unmarked Conor Murtagh who had joined the attack from centre back. With goalkeeper Dwayne Crosbie having being pulled across his goal towards Mulligan, Murtagh calmly shot for what would have been in the winning goal, if it had not be for a miraculous save from Crosbie as he somehow got back across to block the shot! Within in the seconds the final whistle sounded in a stunned Cluskey Park Full Time Score: St Josephs 2-12, St Marys 1-16. This was a fine game of open football, played in a good spirit, with only three Marys points coming from frees in the game, all others scores coming from play. The Marys looked that bit sharper than the Joes in the first half and this is what probably ultimately proved to be the difference, although the home side can not be faulted for their never say die attitude and it would not have been unfair if they had taken something from the game. Best for the Joes were Kevin Woods and Sean Mc Quillan in defence, Peter Mulligan in the Middle, while the whole full forward line showed well again. Best for the Marys were RJ Callaghan, Alan Kirk and Paudie Clarke in attack, while Paul Malone in defence showed better than most have in his battle with Conal O Hanlon. Next up for the Joes in this league is another Sunday evening game at Cluskey Park, this one against near neighbours, the Geraldines, next weekend. Joes Team: Robert Samson; Philip Kinahan, Kevin Woods, Anthony Keenan; Sean McQuillan, Conor Murtagh, Andrew Cluskey; Peter Mulligan 0-1, John Murtagh 1-1; Tomas Smyth, Peter Brennan, Daire McKiernan; Alan McKenna 1-2, Conall O Hanlon 0-4, Derek Mulligan 0-3. Subs: Conor Lynch for T Smyth, Alan Quigley 0-1 for A Cluskey, Bernard Mulligan for A Keenan, John McGuinness for P Brennan. St Marys: Dwayne Crosbie; Niall Carroll, Paul Malone, Barry McCoy; John Bingham, Donal Matthews 0-1, Wayne Matthews; Ronan Carroll, Robert Leavy 0-2 (2fr); Fergal Diamond 0-2, RJ Callaghan 1-2, Alan Kirk 0-4 (1fr); Mark Gorman, Brian McCoy 0-1, Paudie Clarke 0-4. Subs: Jamie Rooney for B McCoy, Robert McHugh for M Gorman. [Report: Michael Kinahan] |