Club News

18/08/02 St. John's hurlers through to 2nd semi-final in 3 years

St. John's took to the field at Casement Park with the knowledge that they were expected to win this encounter against Glenariffe, a side newly promoted to Division 1 status. However only a fool would write off a team from the glens, especially when championship is concerned.

The team was virtually unchanged from the Ballycran match a week earlier, save for the addition of Neil Reynolds to the back line in place of Conal Kelly, who had unfortunately suffered an injury during training midweek.

The match began well enough for St. John's as they built up a 0-3 to 0-0 lead thanks to Paul Montgomery and Brian McFall in the first five minutes. Glenarrife got their first point on the scoreboard shortly afterwards thanks to a free (much like the Ballycran match the majority of Glenariffe's scores came from frees in the first half). Matters continued in much the same vein for the remainder of the first half - St. John's staying in front by a number of points with Glenarrife getting the odd score to keep them in the hunt. On one occasion Donal O'Hara collected the ball well in midfield and pointed from long range, and Gerard McFall also provided some effective firepower for St. John's putting over 2 scores.

However, in the 22nd minute matters took a dramatic twist when Glenarrife full-forward Dominic Kearns rounded Conor Gannon and headed for the St. John's goal, managing to get the ball into the back of the net. This was to be the first and only time Glenarrife nosed in front with the scores at 0-7 to 1-5. Unfortunately Ciaran Cunningham was shown a red card for an 'ambiguous' altercation between himself and the full forward just after the goal went in and St. John's were down to 14 men. The hugely versatile Ronan Heenan was drafted in to goaltending duties from his full forward position - where he stayed for the remainder of the game.

However, displaying the 'never say die' attitude of past great Johnnies' teams the hurlers' heads never dropped - even for an instant - as they rallied round to score 2 points (courtesy of Brian McFall) to lead by one point going into the changing rooms at half time 0-9 to 1-5.

If anything St. John's played better in the second half despite being a man down, Brian McFall scoring twice at the beginning of the second half and Paul Montgomery (back to his best) sending the ball mercilessly into the back of the Glenarrife net after the first nine minutes of the second half. Soon after it was Monty again with another goal, taking St. John's into a 2-11 to 1-7 lead in the final quarter. However this was not to be the end of the goalscoring for St. John's as Stephen Thompson finished another nice offensive move with a well-struck shot to the corner of the Glenarrife net.

At one stage in the second half St. John's led by 8 points however this lead was cut to 5 points thanks to a solo goal from Glenarrife centre half forward Shane McDonnell. The game finished up 3-11 to 2-9 St. John's 5 points the better despite being one man down midway through the first half.

The entire forward line played well throughout the game, especially in the second half when they all covered a huge amount of ground and actually managed to still overlap the Glenarrife defence and score three goals as a result. Donal O'Hara caught some great ball in midfield, and Hugh Kennedy (returning from injury) made a big difference when he was brought on for Brendan Moss. In defence Gareth Clarke, Chris Clarke, Kevin Rafferty and Mickey O'Neill hurled very well, in addition to John Kelly when he was introduced.

Whilst their next opponents Cushendall were very impressive in the other quarter-final, destroying St. Pauls 6-19 to 1-7, St. John's will have nothing to fear and will certainly be looking to gain a place in this year's County Hurling Final for the first time in 10 years.

 

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