Club News

25/06/03 Hurlers' heroics not enough in hurling championship

Corrigan Park witnessed an exciting game of hurling as St. John's went out onto the pitch to try and turn around a 10 point deficit from a week earlier - a tall order perhaps but not an insurmountable one and indeed the hurlers did not let themselves down as they came desperately close to achieving a Lazerus-like result.

Whilst dominating and winning their match by 8 points the senior hurlers were however dumped out of the Senior Hurling Championship on Wednesday night - the first leg defeat taking its toll despite the efforts of returning players to the backline and midfield.

In all 5 first team players managed to get back from injury, suspension and county duty to help the Johnnies cause, in addition to several positional changes around the pitch.

4 changes were made to the starting 6 defenders from the away match. The injured Conor Gannon came back into his usual position at right-corner-back, albeit heavily strapped for the occasion, Kevin Rafferty, returning from suspension, went in at full-back, Gerard Cunningham moved over to right-half with County Footballer Conal Kelly going into centre-half back and Gareth Clarke retreating from mid-field to his preferred left-half back position - his older brother Chris Clarke was the only person to retain his position at left-corner back.

Midfield saw a brand new pairing of Neil Reynolds and John Meade and additions to the forward line were Gerard McFall and Ronan Heenan.

Liam Boyle (who gave a great first half display - hampered later by a broken finger in the second half) got St. John's off to a good start with 2 well taken points. Brian then pointed from frees. At the other end Glenariffe scored in reply so both teams were level at 0-3 to 0-3 after 15 minutes of play. However, a wickedly deflected shot from Glenariffe managed to get past Keeper Ciaran Cunningham who, whilst diving full stretch to try to prevent the goal, managed only to get his stick to it and it found its way into the net.

Unfortunate as this setback was the goal came entirely against the run of play and St. John's continued to dominate all around the field, but due to a number of wides this dominance wasn't reflected in the scoreline.

Shortly afterwards Glenariffe's left-half forward Kearns, already on a yellow card, drew straight across the head of his marker, Gerard Cunningham, and left the referee with no option but to send him off - a bit of justice perhaps after his similar display the previous week. Gerard had to go off to receive medical treatment on the sideline (7 staples in his head in total) and would not return to the pitch until 5 minutes after half time.

Brian McFall then went on a run after 25 minutes of play, soloing past a few Glenariffe defenders before shooting goalward, perhaps not his best struck shot ever but it was enough as it slipped through the keeper's fingers in the net. St. John's and Glenariffe were back on level terms therefore at 1-04 to 1-04 - St. John's however were still nowhere near the ten point margin they needed to get through to the next round.

After a few more points were put over by both sides, St. John's managed to get their noses in front and when the halftime whistle came the scores stood at 1-07 to 1-05 to the home side.

The second half saw St. John's step up the gears as they began to point further and further into the lead. Brian McFall was deadly with his freetaking in the second half, with Ronan Heenan giving a battling performance around the middle of the park and the backline simply outstanding as they stopped the Glenariffe attackers at every turn.

Conal Kelly not only cancelled out Johnny McIntosh throughout the game, but outplayed him towards the end of the game. Conor Gannon stepped up to another level in the second half as he caught a number of high balls and sent in lengthy, accurate passes to the forwards (one going straight to the injured Gerard Cunningham who put it over the bar 40 yards out). Chris Clarke was also in inspired form (as was the rest of the defence) as he covered and swept up any loose ball in the full back line.

Up front St. John's piled on the pressure with points aplenty - the crowd were in a frenzy as the hurlers went 9 points up with 5 minutes left on the clock. Momentum was definitely with the Corrigan Park side and many felt (as surely the players also must have) that this was going to be their night. Brian McFall hit an almighty free from far out on the left hand side of midfield however, accurate as it was, it fell just short into the hands of the Glenariffe keeper. Glenariffe managed to get up the pitch and score an all-important point with a few minutes left. A few last minute efforts were taken on goal (Mickey O'Neill making a fine run into the full forward line and blatantly taken out by a Glenariffe defender however, bizarrely no foul was given and the ball was cleared out).

When the final whistle blew St. John's had won the match 1-17 to 1-09 (the defence holding Glenariffe to just 4 points in the second half) however Glenariffe had done enough to deny St. John's an heroic victory and passage to the next round.

		St. John's
		C. Cunningham
C. Gannon		K. Rafferty	C. Clarke
G. Cunningham		C. Kelly	G. Clarke
		J. Mead N. Reynolds
G. McFall		R. Heenan	S. Thompson
L. Boyle		L. McCurdy	B. McFall
Subs: P. Montgomery for J. Mead, M. O'Neill for L. McCurdy)