17/05/04 Senior hurlers earn fine win at home against Ballygalget

St. Johns 2:10
Ballygalget 0-13

St. John's senior hurlers recorded a fine win against their toughest opponents to date last Tuesday night in Corrigan Park. Ballygalget have shown impressive form in the last few seasons, beating Dunloy already this season and justifying the large number of county players within their ranks.

The St. John's Hurling team

St. John's started brightly enough with Brian McFall and midfielder Conor Gannon picking off some early points for the home side, however Ballygalget managed to nose in front for the majority of the first half. There was never more than 1 or 2 points in it at any one time, until Niall Grego struck a fine goal off the ground to take the lead for the Johnnies. Paul Montgomery took a couple of nice points in the first half and Brian McFall scored 2 great points from sideline balls, almost one after the other, to give the Johnnies a good lead.

In the backline Chris Clarke, Mickey O'Neill and Gerard Cunningham were getting the better of their men to keep Ballygalget at bay. After 10 minutes Niall McCallin was substituted due to injury and Hugo Kennedy (returning from injury) came on in his place. Hugo gave a great performance from the minute he came onto the pitch, not showing any rustiness despite his lack of match practice.

The second half was an even closer affair with Ballygalget starting to put more pressure on the backs. A high number of frees were awarded to the Down men in very scoreable areas and this helped the Ardsmen come back into the game.

However, more points from Paul Montgomery, an opportunistic goal from Stephen Thompson and a point from Neill Reynolds insured the victory went to the home side. This, of course, coupled with superb defending from Mickey O'Neill, Ronan Heenan and Chris Clarke.

Kevin Rafferty worked industriously at middle of the park and Locky McCurdy produced a solid performance on the half forward line. The man of the match accolade must go to Chris Clarke - under ever increasing pressure against the Down captain he produced catches and big clearances time and again to keep his dangerman away from goal.

A very satisfactory win for Liam Donnelly's lads.

St. Johns: 1.Ciaran Cunningham 2. Colm McFall 3. Micky O'Neill 4. Chris Clarke 5. Gerard Cunningham 6. Ronan Heenan 7. Niall McCallin
8. Conor Gannon 9. Kevin Rafferty 10. Paul Montgomery 11. Neil Reynolds 12. Locky McCurdy 13. Niall Grego 14. Brian McFall
15. Stephen Thompson

Subs: 16. Neill Kelly 17. Hugo 'Duncan' Kennedy 18. Anto Brennan 19. Simon McCrory 20. Liam Knocker 21. John Joe Hartigan
22. Martin McMahon 23. Brendan Moss

Substitutions: Hugo Kennedy for Niall McCallin, Simon McCrory for Niall Grego, Packy Nolan for Stephen Thompson

Scorers: Brian McFall 0:04, Paul Montgomery 0:04, Niall Grego 1:00, Stephen Thompson 1:00 Conor Gannon 0:01 Neill Reynolds 0:01

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