Club News

23/05/02 Senior hurlers chalk up first win of the season

The conditions were poor, and the pitch could not be described as being in 100% good order, nonetheless the crowd who gathered to watch this second round of the Antrim League Cup were treated to a fine, competitive game with plenty of good play from both sides.

The match began close enough, with St. John's taking an early, if somewhat, slender lead against a newly promoted St. Paul's team. Both sides exchanged points until Ronan Heenan knocked in a fine goal in the 21st minute of the first half. Within minutes however, St. Paul's had equalised with a lucky goal rebounding in off a St. Paul's corner forward from the keeper's block out. The Senior hurlers however continued to punish their opponents and went in at half time leading by 2 points.

The backline worked relentlessly to keep out a determined St. Paul's forward line, Mickey O'Neill in particular dominating his full back position and was supported solidly by his two corner backs, Chris Clarke and Conor Gannon. Kevin Rafferty battled well in centre-half to break down a number of St. Paul's forward moves, whilst at midfield Donal O'Hara added some much needed catching to the side, with Hugh Kennedy working hard to collect the breaking ball and move it on.

The second half showed no let up in the pace of the game, which certainly best describes the match in general - hard fought, fast paced, end-to-end action.

It was here when the St. John's forward line really began to stamp their dominance on the opposition. Gerard Hamilton's introduction added a lot of pace to the team and his defence splitting run eventually provided Paul Montgomery with the perfect opportunity to add to his previous tally, of a goal and 6 points, to strike home a superbly taken goal to the top corner of the St. Pauls net. Gerard McFall added to the scoring with 2 points and Ronan Heenan again racked up 2 points to add to his earlier goal.

Ciaran Cunningham produced a fine point blank save minutes from time from a Paul Donnelly shot which effectively ended any chance of a St. Paul's comeback and sealed the Johnnies victory.

All-in-all it was a good team performance, every player battling hard and supporting each other and the game eventually finished up 3-10 to 1-9 and handed the senior hurlers their first win of the season.

 

		St. John's
		C.Cunningham
C. Gannon		M. O'Neill	C. Clarke
N. McCallin		K. Rafferty	G. Clarke
		D. O'Hara H. Kennedy
S. Thompson		N. Reynolds	G. Cunningham
G. McFall		R. Heenan	P. Montgomery
(Subs: C. Thompson for N. McCallin; G. Hamilton for N. Reynolds)