07/02/04 No 'Messan' with the Johnnies as they 'Kil'
off Meath Challengers
Kilmessan, Meath 0:05
St. Johns, Antrim 2:15
Our Senior Hurlers had a good challenge
game away to Kilmessan of Meath at the weekend. Although
the scoreline was comfortable in the end the Meath Senior
Champions of the past two years certainly held the game
for the first 40 minutes.
Kilmessan also had eight senior players
missing on County duty with Meath in the Kehoe Cup final
on Sunday against Wicklow (which they incidently won
with a scoreline of 1:15 to 0:11). The rematch of this
game (St.Johns V Kilmessan) next month in Corrigan Park
I've a feeling will produce a different scoreline. St.Johns
were missing 4 players on county duty plus two down
with injuries.
This game was played in cold, dry and
windy conditions but with some bright sunshine. It started
briskly enough with a sharp Niall Grego netting after
only 2 minutes. This was followed with a 20m cut from
play over the bar by Ronan Heenan before Kilmessan replied
with 2 quick points from play. Conor Gannon began to
assert his authority at centre field for St. Johns and
further points from McFall 0:02, Gannon 0:03 and Kelly
0:01 left the Johnnies with a half time lead of 1:07
to 0:05.
Upon resumption 3 points in the first
12 minutes from McFall, Gannon & Peoples saw off
a brief resurgence from the depleted Meath Champions.
Locky McCurdy (that old War Horse)
showed some fighting spirit, despite the closest of
attentions from his marker. Ronan Heenan switched into
goal with Liam Boyle, at this stage and Kevin Rafferty
tried hard against a very strong Kilmessan half back
line. The remaining 20 minutes saw Kilmessan slowly
fade and St.Johns managed to pick of several more scores
with substitute Brendan Moss scoring 1:02 from the bench.
There were certainly some excellent
performances from Conor Gannon, Locky McCurdy, Niall
Grego and Michael O'Neill. They were ably followed by
The Clarke Brothers 'Harpo & Groucho'….. Gareth
& Chris, John-Joe Hartigan who jockied well and
youngsters 'The Two Liam's', Knocker and Boyle. Jim
Peoples looked sharp coming on and Brendan Moss did
the business with 1:02 from play off the bench.
We would like to thank Kilmessan for
their hospitality for the day and we look forward to
the return fixture.
Unfortunately we do not have any photographs
of the match as one of our senior mentors couldn't operate
a simple camera which my daughter Eimhear could use
when she was three! ……….. Who lets these
people out?
SC
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St. John's
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L. Boyle (5) |
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J.J. Hartigan (6)
|
M. O'Neill (7) |
C. Clarke (7) |
| J. Herald (5) |
L. Knocker (6) |
G. Clarke (6) |
| |
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C. Gannon (8)
G. McFall (5)
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| R. Heenan (5) |
K. Rafferty(5) |
L. McCurdy (7) |
| N. Kelly (6) |
P. Montgomery (5) |
N. Grego (7) |
|
Subs: Brendan Moss (7) 35 min, Anthony
Brennan (5) 35min & Jim Peoples(7) 37min.
(Performance in brackets)
Manager: Liam Donnelly
Mentors: Feargal Collins, Brendan Mackin
St. Johns Scorers: Brendan
Moss 1:02, Conor Gannon 0:04, Gerard McFall
0:04 (all frees), Niall Grego 1:00, Neil
Kelly 0:02, Jim Peoples 0:01, Kevin Rafferty
0:01, Ronan Heenan 0:01
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.
