21/03/04 St. John's U-16's go
'Down Under'
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Portaferry U-16's 1:04
St. John's U-16's 4:12
St. Johns U-16 Hurlers continued their pre-season
preparations with a trip down the Ards peninsula
to play Down kingpins Portaferry at the weekend.
Despite torrential rain in Belfast, Portaferry
was in fine form and, although the pitch was slippy
in places, there thankfully was no rain and occasional
bright sunshine.
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The St. John's Hurling bus
keeps going - even onto the pitch!!
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Playing against the breeze in the first half the Johnnies
drew first blood with an excellent point from Michael
Flannery who despite loosing his hurl still managed
a 10m overhead kick to score his point. Aodhan Mulholland
followed suit on 10 minutes when he swept up the right
wing to slot over the Antrim mens second point.
Eoghan Caldwell then broke right through the heart
of the Portaferry defence with a magical 50m run before
he was brought down on the 20m line right in front of
goal.
The usual ever reliable Barry McFall stepped up and
uncharacteristically blasted the ball wide. He however
made amends moments later when he latched onto a ball
some 20m out and slotted over the Johnnies 3rd point.
Portaferry replied with a well taken 45m point from
a free on the left. McFall again broke and picked off
another excellent point from 40m on the left. He then
pointed another free after Caldwell was fouled in possession
from 50m.
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Barry goes in for the tackle
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Portaferry then mounted a sustained attack
in the remaining minutes before half time. They
picked off one point from play and on the stroke
of half time their centre half forward unleased
a blistering 20m shot which Ciaran McKissock
parried brilliantly before the Portaferry no.10
reacted quickest to the dropping ball to smash
a volley from 20 yards to the roof of the net
to level the scores at half time.
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St.Johns first half midfield and defensive performance
was excellent all round with particularly, McKissock,McGibbon,
McGarrity and the outstanding Anthony Moore to the fore.
Caldwell at midfield was giving a Rolls Royce performance
as was his partner Brian Holmes. In fact Holmes picked
off an excellent 55m point at the beginning of the second
half before Portaferry replied with a sharp 25m free
to level the scores again.
Aodhan Mulholland then won possession some 20m out
before he burst through and drove the ball to the roof
of the Portaferry net to put the Antrim men back in
front 1:06 to 1:03.
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The mercurial McFall then went on a scoring spree
with a superb two goals and three points in a
13 minute spell which in effect ended the game
as a contest.
Caldwell who was dominating the midfield area
along with his partner Brian Holmes skipped past
four Portaferry defenders to pick off a delightful
point before Aodhan Mulholland latched onto another
ball to slot over another point for St.Johns.
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Spot the ball
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McFall picked off another 60m point before Brian Holmes
rounded his Marker to shoot to the Portaferry net. Portaferry
replied with another great point from their no.10 to
leave the final score line of 4:12 to 1:04 in St. Johns
favour.
Certainly this young team can take satisfaction in
their performance. Fielding a younger team than usual
with four U-14's, Brendan McGibbon, Stephen Corner,
Colin Fegan and Daire Maskey they performed superbly
with McGibbon and Corner showing up really well. Peter
McGarrity gave another Trojan performance as did the
excellent Anthony Moore. Sean McDaniel and goal keeper
Ciaran McKissock helped round off a water tight defence.
Eoghan Caldwell and Brian Holmes dominated the midfield
exchanges with Caldwell playing a superb game.
Up front the laurels would have to go to Barry McFall
with 2:07 to his credit and an all round top performance.
He was helped by his battling pair of Michael Flannery
and Declan McVeigh. Aodhan Mulholland looked sharp up
front and still has an awful lot left in the tank.
St.Johns Scorers:
Barry McFall 2:07 (0:03 frees)
Aodhan Mulholland 1:02, Brain Holmes 1:01, Eoghan Caldwell
0:01, Michael Flannery 0:01.
