04/07/04 St. John's hurlers stumble against Lamh Dhearg in Championship

St. John's 1-12
Lamh Dhearg 2-10

St. John's Senior Hurlers were sporting their new club jerseys for this championship first leg match against Lamh Dhearg, but this was the only thing the supporters could get excited about in the first half as (with a frighteningly similar scoreline to that of the Senior footballers first match against Glenavy) St. John's found themselves 0-1 to 2-4 adrift after 20 minutes of play.

St. John's Hurling team

Despite Simon McCrory's well taken early point the St. John's forward line did not settle well in the first period of play, racking up just 0-04 in the first half. On the other side of the pitch their Lamh Dhearg counterparts were experiencing much more success, amassing an impressive 2-07, thanks to a Micko Herron penalty (scoring 1-04 in total) and Terence O'Hara goal. Keeper Ciaran Cunningham needed to be in impressive form and he was, he caught a number of dangerous balls in the first half to keep the Johnnies from going further behind.

The pre-match warm up

The second half thankfully witnessed a good comeback by St. John's, aided by a Neil Reynolds point, continuing with 3 superb points from Gerard Cunningham (really showing his county class in the second half) and steered through by Brian McFall's obligatory 6 points (5 frees). Stephen Thompson produced a scintillating goal 5 minutes from the close of play to narrow the margin of defeat.

Fittingly it was young Simon McCrory who recorded the last score of the game to bring St. John's within one point of the Hannaghstown men, who showed their character in producing such a good display in their away leg.

St. John's will have it all to do in their away match next month. And, despite an awful first half display, they can take something out of the second half performance and out of their minor players, Simon McCrory, Colm McFall (both making their championship debuts) and Liam Knocker, who produced the goods when called upon. The rest of the senior players will no doubt be looking to emulate the minors for the knock out match on August 1.

Hurlers get in some last minute stretching

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. Locky McCurdy 9. Kevin Rafferty 10. Gerard McFall 11. Neil Reynolds 12. Paul Montgomery 13. Simon McCrory 14. Brian McFall
15. Stephen Thompson 16. Conor Gannon 17. Niall Grego 18. Hugo 'Duncan' Kennedy 19. Anto Brennan 20. Liam Knocker 20. Brendan Moss
21. Martin McMahon 22. Packy Nolan
Substitutes: Conor Gannon for Locky McCurdy, Hugo 'Duncan' Kennedy for Kevin Rafferty, Niall Grego for Paul Montgomery, Liam Knocker for Niall McCallin

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