21/04/04 St. John's suffer narrow defeat away to Glenarrife

Glenarrife 1:15
St. Johns 2:09

Conditions were not ideal in Waterfoot for this Division 1 hurling clash, however the home side seemed to weather the stormy conditions better than the city slickers on Wednesday night past. Despite Glenarrife opening up a 4 point lead with 20 minutes played in the first half this game was closely contested all around the park.

The St. John's Hurling team

Glenariffe were picking off their scores with considerably more ease though and this was the difference between the two sides for the majority of the first half. Brian McFall was in fine form during this period and, aided by a superb defence-splitting hand pass from Collie Thompson, he should have had a goal after 18 minutes of play, however he was thwarted by the huge figure of the Glenarrife goalkeeper. (Indeed this has become something of a yearly habit for the big Glenarrife man as he continues to frustrate many's a Johnnies forward in their search for goals.) Brian did make the breakthrough for St. John's with a 21 yard free 2 minutes later which went at high speed through the legs of the keeper.

This was not to be the end of the goals for St. John's as a neat move, started by Captain Stephen Thompson, saw Brian bearing down on goal again 5 minutes later, striking the ball viciously into the Glenariffe net off the ground.

Glenariffe star forward Johnny McIntosh was in ever-impressive form for the home side as he racked up his now obligatory slew of points for the Glens, rarely missing any frees. His other forwards were in good form too as the St. John's defence came under significant pressure. Luckily for St. John's Mickey 'The Ginger Mixer' O'Neill and Chris Clarke were in outstanding form in the full back line in the first half otherwise Glenariffe may have romped into an unassailable lead.

As it was St. John's went in at half time 3 points the better after the goal blitz by Brian McFall and further points from McFall (3), Reynolds (1) and Thompson (1).

The second half saw a turnaround in the fortunes of Glenariffe, with a superbly taken overhead strike, from the Glenariffe full-forward, finding the goal against a helpless Ciaran Cunningham coupled with St. John's inability to get the ball into their full forward line. The ball, bizarrely, rarely passed the midfield and half-forward lines for St. John's during this half and that was what sealed the win for Glenariffe.

St. Johns 1.Ciaran Cunningham 2. Jon Joe Hartigan 3. Micky O'Neill 4. Chris Clarke 5. Gerard Cunningham 6. Ronan Heenan 7. Gareth Clarke 8. Gerard McFall 9. Niall McCallin 10. Locky McCurdy 11. Kevin Rafferty 12. Neil Reynolds 13. Brian McFall 14. Colin Thompson
15. Stephen Thompson 16. Brendan Moss 17. Joe Herald 18. Anto Brennan 19. Niall Grego 20. Paul Montgomery 21. Conor McCormick 22. Colm McFall 23. Martin McMahon 24. Conor Gannon
Substitutes: Conor Gannon for Chris Clarke (55 mins), Niall Grego for Kevin Rafferty (61 mins) , Paul Montgomery for Colin Thompson (66mins)

Manager: Liam Donnelly
Mentors: Fergal Collins, Brendan Mackin, Paul Collins, Michael Gannon