Club News

06/04/03 Senior Hurlers lose out to Loughiel in close affair

This was a lively, hard fought encounter at Corrigan Park which saw a number of players from both sides booked and one player given his marching orders towards the end of the second half.

Whilst the St. John's hurlers missed only Locky McCurdy and Gerard Hamilton from the forward line which started against Dunloy (due to injury and inter-colleges duties), this did not prevent them from notching up a high number of scores. It was Loughiel however who drew first blood sending over 4 quick points to take the early advantage. St. John's came back with a number of scores from Gerard and Brian McFall to take the lead 0-5 to 0-4 however Loughiel got a number of soft goals in the first half which opened up, at one stage, a 7 point advantage for them. The first came from a loose ball in the St. John's goal mouth which was tapped into the back of the net and then the second was powered past the keeper and defenders from a converted free close in, which resulted, somewhat unfortunately, from the Johnnies keeper fouling the ball on his own free.

Brian McFall was in great form throughout the match, scoring all the St. John's goals and he really did look dangerous each time he got the ball. There was absolutely no doubt where the ball was going when he stepped up to take his penalty and close-in frees during this game. Donal O'Hara caught a number of high balls, which were sent into him to the forward line, which also put the Loughiel defence under immediate pressure. At one stage the Loughiel keeper produced a superb diving save in the first half to deny St. John's what looked like a certain goal, which helped sway the game in Loughiel's favour. The first half ended with St. John's facing a 5 point deficit.

Scores were pretty much 'tit-for-tat' in the second half with Loughiel managing to get another few soft goals to seal the win, although St. John's still had a few chances to take the game as well. There was a welcome appearance made by St. John's stalwart Paul Montgomery in this second period, who had been missing due to a serious injury which had ruled him out of contention since late last season. Ronan Heenan was then sent off by referee Jim McClean for a second yellow card offence with some 5 minutes of play remaining and whilst some home fans may have questioned a number of the referee's decisions throughout the game, the match was definitely there for the taking regardless.

Even though this was only the second match of the season the hurlers will be disappointed that it was ultimately another 2 points that went a begging.

 

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