Club News

07/09/02 Division 2 footballers return to Division 3

It was with much regret that on Saturday Gerry McCann's men ran out onto St. Teresa's pitch Division 2 footballers and then, some 70 minutes later, trudged off it Division 3 footballers. Also regrettable was the fact that they were beaten by a pretty poor Ardoyne team who, judging by their attitude and spirit on the day, ultimately wanted to stay up more than St. John's did.

St. John's got off to the worst possible start when they let Ardoyne in for an early goal in the first few minutes and from then on were always on the back foot. The Ardoyne forwards and midfield pairing pressurized an unusually suspect St. John's defence for most of the first half, though they failed to take a high number of their chances. St. John's did graft their way back into the game with a number of points and tighter play, though by half time they were hit by the loss Stephen Miller through injury.

Matters remained fairly tight in the second half with both teams holding an equal share of the possession and neither team looking the stronger. By the end of the game either team could have won it, Ardoyne just doing enough to secure victory 2-5 to 2-3.

Admittedly the game was no classic. In fact the footballing skill and prowess on display never got above average throughout - it all came down to who had the better attitude, who wanted it more, the will to win and Ardoyne's determination on the pitch was matched only by their strong support off the pitch. Tellingly St. John's could only muster a handful of supporters whereas Ardyone had supporters to spare, taking up one side of the pitch.

Whilst going into a lower, arguably easier, division next year St. John's footballers will face the mammoth task of matching their superb record in the 2001 Division 3 season when they won the league, and were only beaten by one team the whole year - Ardoyne...

 

		St. John's
		Ciaran the barman
D. O'Hara		K. Rafferty	D. McAllister
C. McKnight		L. Donnelly	C. Clarke
		C. McClarnon J. Hand
E. McKenna		S. Miller	S. Thompson
P. Nolan		L. McCurdy	C. Heatley
(Subs: N. Reynolds for S. Miller, G. Fegan for L. McCurdy, N. Kelly for S.Thompson)