Club News

01/09/02 Hurlers' impress but championship dream over for another year

St. John's Senior Hurling side which took on Cushendall in the Semi-Final of the 2002 Antrim County Championship

John Crossey said it before the match "No-one outside this changing room gives us a chance" and he was right. Both the Andersonstown News and Irish News had predicted Cushendall would annihilate St. John's hurlers. And going on their strong quarter final performance against St. Pauls, Cushendall no doubt expected St. John's to collapse before them, but they were wrong. Big time...

The match began well for St. John's, Gerard McFall and Brian McFall each pointing after only 4 minutes of play putting St. John's 0-2 to 0-0 up. Bizarrely though these were to be the only scores of this half for St. John's as Cushendall built up a sizeable lead by half-time. Aidan Delargy showed his class notching up 5 points in total, whilst Ryan McNaughton, Jackie Carson, Kevin Martin McMullan and Michael McCambridge also took their points as well.

Donal O'Hara keeps his eye on the ball

Ronan Heenan, who by now can surely play anywhere, moved from full-forward into centre-half back in place of Kevin Rafferty midway through the first half and he displayed great leadership throughout the rest of the game. The defence stuck tightly to their men, however by halftime the scores were 0-2 to 0-9.

The second half needed to be a lot better from the hurlers, and it was. Much better. Quick out of the blocks and in inspired form Paul Montgomery (aided by the other forwards) went through a sizzling 8 minutes of play in which he scored a well-worked goal and three points. After Gerard McFall blocked Sean Delargy's effort and sent the ball over from a mammoth 90 yards St. John's had done the unthinkable, got back on level terms. Cushendall could make no reply during this time which was 100% dominated by St. John's all over the park. Nor had Cushendall registered a single score in this period of play and they were visibly shaken.

Chris Clarke reaches high to claim the sliotar

The critics who talked of "Rampant Ruairis" and about "Johnnies crashing out" were silenced by the hurlers' display. The atmosphere at this stage was electric in Casement Park - if there had been a roof, it would have lifted off because of the roars of the Johnnies supporters, who probably couldn't believe what they were witnessing. Soon after Kevin Rafferty, who had moved up into full forward since the first half, had an opportunity to send St. John's 3 points ahead when he found himself in a position to shoot for goal, however his shot narrowly missed, hitting the side netting and from then on Cushendall got back into the game. This may have been a turning point in the match - St. John's were on the up, Cushendall looked in disarray - complaining at each other, shouting at one another.

Unfortunately for St. John's the tide turned yet again in Cushendall's favour. Jackie Carson stepped up to drag Cushendall kicking and screaming into the County Final. He was moved into full forward and then opportunistically hit the ball into the back of the net after Brendan McGibbon's failed attempt to clear his line. Gibbies however was outstanding on the day, this being his only mistake. His puck outs were consistently well taken and his goal tending strong. Under the circumstances - i.e. having not played senior hurling for a number of years, going into one of the most high pressure positions on the field and having not played a single game this year for the senior hurlers in that position - his performance was nothing short of tremendous. He no doubt relished the opportunity to return to a team he had played for during the 80's and 90's.

'Gibbies' returns to senior hurling in style

Ten minutes later Carson scored his second goal, which seemed to effectively seal matters, the scores now 2-11 to 1-6. But yet again St. John's displayed their, by now, trademark grit and determination and never-say-die attitude. Having dispossessed his man around the half back line Conor Gannon made a 40 yard solo run down the right, delivered the ball into the full forward line were Brian McFall promptly stuck it into the back of the net.

The match, whilst finishing up 2-13 to 2-06, was by no means one-way traffic, hurling was tight throughout and the scoreline was no true reflection of how well St. John's had played against Cushendall. Interestingly both teams scored 2 goals and 4 points in the second half, but for the Johnnies lack of scores in the first half there was little between the teams.

At corner back Conor Gannon got back to his old self after a brief loss of form to deliver a strong performance - Sean Delargy, who came on against Tipperary in the All-Ireland Quarter Final, didn't score a single point and was eventually moved out in the last 10 minutes of the game. Chris Clarke and Mickey O'Neill shared duties of marking Jackie Carson and were as strong as ever. Carson in particular drew straight across Mickey O'Neill on a number of occasions however the referee decided that there was nothing untoward in this and waved play on.

Mickey O'Neill evades the close attentions of three Cushendall players

In the forward line Paul Montgomery shone the most, along with Gerard McFall, though the rest tried hard, as they always do.

Perhaps most tellingly Sambo McNaughton said after the match "Nobody in this county gave you a chance, but knowing St. John's the way I do - you always produce a good championship side and I expected a tough match, perhaps some of our lads didn't realise that... You (the standard of hurling in St. John's) are very close."

With some excellent minors and under 16's starting to come through the ranks, things are looking up for hurling within St. John's and as Jackie Kelly reminded the team time and time again during the year, this year is the beginning of big things for the hurling fraternity within the club.

Jackie Kelly, Brian McFall and Tony McNulty present the St. John's Hurling Team sponsor
'Beckets' with a signed hurling stick from the entire panel and management.

St. John's hurlers would like to thank all involved in the management and preparation of the team this year and all the hard work over the last year, in particular Jackie Kelly, Michael Gannon, Liam Donnelly, Aidan Kelly, Brendan Mackin and John Crossey.

 

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