Club News

10/08/02 Hurlers shine in Ballycran

Playing any of the Down teams away is never an easy prospect, especially since this particular Down team beat Loughuile mid-week in the league. Certainly Ballycran expected to win after their victory and also in light of St. John's defeat to Loughuile the week before. However they hadn't counted on a rampant St. John's team on form and displaying probably their best team performance of the season so far.

The only changes to the team which faced Loughuile were Conor Gannon, back from injury, at corner back, Brendan Moss at midfield and Gerard McFall at corner forward, back intact from his American adventure.

The game began much in the way that the game eventually finished with St. John's dominating possession, directing the play and delivering punishing scores. Brian McFall, deputising for regular free-taker Paul Montgomery, put over a high percentage of his points from frees, missing only a few of his chances. Paul Montgomery took his chance from play well, sending the ball over the bar. Kevin Rafferty sent over a superb long range effort midway through the first half, and was shortly followed by a point produced from the ever industrious Eamon Blaney, depite the close attention from a number of Ballycran defenders.

In defence St. John's stuck tightly to their men, allowing Ballycran no space or time to send over a single point in the first half. Indeed Ballycran's scores came entirely from frees in this period. From the keeper right out to the left half back St. John's were steady and assured and cleared their lines on every occasion. Ciaran Cunningham put the Loughuile game behind him in some style when he made a great save, diving full length to block a shot which was going into the furthest corner of the net, and thus denied Ballycran a goal in the first half.

At the other end of the field Ronan Heenan was experiencing something of a 'Phoenix from the Flames' situation as he built upon his good Loughuile performance with possibly his best performance for St. John's in recent years. Superb as poacher he caught some great balls pucked into the full forward line and it wasn't long before he struck the ball past the Ballycran keeper to enable St. John's to pull away from the Downmen. Indeed he was getting to know the Ballycran keeper very well by the end of the game as he scored two more goals in the second half and racked up an impressive tally of 3-1, putting paid to any talk of retirement for at least another couple of years. (By the end of the night there were even some rumours that he may allegedly be thinking of returning to the county panel next year, though admittedly this was after a few pints)

Another goal was added by Stephen Thompson in the second half, in addition to his 2 points and Gerard McFall scored two points bringing the match to a close at 4-12 0-11.

Promisingly every one of the St. John's forwards registered scores and the defence limited the Ballycran forwards to only 2 points from play. A great team performance St. John's never gave Ballycran any hope that they would get back into the game. As the entire team played well it would be hard to pick out individuals, but perhaps Brendan Moss and Gerard McFall deserve special mention as Gerard had only just returned from the States but was looking very sharp and Brendan filled in for Neil Reynolds and the injured Hugh Kennedy with a great display in the middle of the park.

The team spirit didn't end there however, as St. John's travelled on to Portaferry for the night. It would be safe to say that 'The Fiddler's Green' and 'The Lep' enjoyed an upsurge in profits for their usual Saturday night trade. Club captain Brian McFall was the perfect ambassador as always, leading the men in a rendition of "The Green Glens of Antrim" in one of Portaferry's many pubs, and ensured that every one of his team-mates made it back to the B&B safely at the end of the night before finally heading to bed himself.

Likewise accomplished chanter Donal O'Hara was in fine voice as he took Eamon "I know, I know, I know" Blaney's local pub 'The Lep', and all its drinkers, on a musical tour of Ireland's counties and history until the early hours. The team discussed the match and the upcoming championship (Ciaran Cunningham in particular providing an in-depth analysis of his clean sheet) and renewed acquaintances with a few of the Ballycran players.

A great night's craic was had by all - the victory earlier on in the evening setting the tone for the rest of the night.

 

		St. John's
		C.Cunningham
C. Gannon		M. O'Neill	C. Clarke
C. Kelly		K. Rafferty	G. Clarke
		D. O'Hara B. Moss
S.Thompson		B. McFall	E. Blaney
G. McFall		R. Heenan	P. Montgomery
(Subs:G. Hamilton for P. Montgomery, F. Collins for G. Hamilton)