Club News13/09/03 The Magnificent Sevens!!

Much like Yul Brynner assembled a crack band of gunfighters in 'The Magnificent Seven' so too did Gerry McCann, with Conal Heatley himself forming an integral part of this renegade team of footballers.

The 'Clarke boys', Chris, Gareth and Graham from William Alexander and Meath respectively formed a devastating midfield partnership and defense along with the Captain for the day Anto 'Peahead' Press. Conal Heatley provided the goalkeeping. Up front was the unorthodox, though no less effective, strike force of Enda McKenna and Conor 'Gatlin' Gannon. Last but by no means least came Aidy 'The Tank' Morris fresh from a 15oz Steak breakfast (no joke), who made a very useful substitute, scoring throughout all the matches.

First match was played against Longstone. As with every first match at the sevens tournament the pace was difficult to judge and adjust to and it took some of the players a short while to catch their breaths however it was still a very close run thing. Conor Gannon found himself bearing down on goal only for his shot to be saved well by the Longstone keeper. Chris Clarke made no mistake however when given the chance and he took his goal with confidence. Enda McKenna and Graham Clarke then grabbed a couple of points. A number of dubious decisions followed, including a blatant pass back over the halfway line for Longstone (the referee not spotting it), however St. John's were finally beaten by 3 points. Aidy Morris had a few quiet words with the ref afterwards.

The next match was an even closer affair against Sarsfields of Lurgan, St. John's going down by 2 points thanks to a late rally by their opposition.

After 2 close matches which could have gone either way the St. John's team finally made the breakthrough, and in some style. Early on, having intercepted the ball at the halfway line Gatlin proceeded to charge down the field and looked certain to score a goal but, was fouled by the retreating defender at the last minute and his shot was saved by the keeper. Not to worry, as 2 minutes later he picked up the ball wide on the wing near the endline, rounded the keeper and finished off the move with a left footed shot sent calmly underneath the defender. Aidy Morris had more words with the referee over a dubious call, before deciding to cool down on the side line with Gerry for a brief period. Enda McKenna then scored a goal of his own, followed by a couple of nice points from Anto 'Peahead', Aidy Morris (returning to the game suitably sedated), Gareth Clarke and Graham Clarke. St. John's took the spoils with a 4 point margin.

On a high and with nothing to lose St. John's took on a Dublin team next. Suffice it to say the footballers, now fully in the swing of things, took this team apart. Enda McKenna scored the goal of the tournament with a trailblazer of a shot from 30 yards out which gave the keeper absolutely no chance - in fact he probably did well enough to get out of the way - such was the ferocity of the shot. This was to set the tone for the rest of the game - Enda racking up 3 goals in total, Gareth scoring 3 points and Gatlin, Graham and Aidy getting a point a piece. The winning margin, an impressive 10 points.

Unfortunately this was not enough to insure progression through to the next round - the early close defeats taking their toll, however the lads can take some pride in the fact that they were narrowly beaten by the eventual winners - Longstone.

Many thanks to Gerry McCann and Conal Heatley for organising the team on the day, and to the supporters - Gerry's wife Anne, Michael (straight from his hospital bed) Gannon & Susan Gannon for cheering the team on.

 

	St. John's
	C. Heatley
A. Press		C. Clarke
G. Clarke		G. Clarke
C. Gannon		E. McKenna
A. Morris