24 October 2009
A devastating display of forward accuracy and skill saw Cross & Passion Ballycastle retain the BT Mageean Cup in emphatic style in the first ever final played under lights last night.
Some of the points bagged by Ciaran Clarke and Stephen McAfee were worth the admission fee alone, but all over the field Ballycastle hurled with confidence and authority.
There were a number of contenders for the Player of the Match, but Clarke’s 1-10 tilted the scales in his favour ahead of McAfee, Daniel McPeake and Shane Jennings, while 0-6 from frees and an all-round competent display from St Mary’s Jude Savage also saw his name in the mix.
St Mary’s hurled very well in the opening quarter and led by 0-5 to 0-2 with two excellent scores from Conor Murray and two frees from Jude Savage who had been dominating midfield.
Then the pace of Stephen McAfee began to trouble the St Mary’s defence. Eamon Cooke in goals dived well to prevent a goal from the McQuillan’s club man after 18 minutes, but was powerless 2 minutes later when a James Black handpass played McAfee into space 20 metres out.
Clarke quickly added a couple of frees before a shortish puck-out fell invitingly for Shane Jennings, who ran 30 metres before firing to the right corner.
Another point from Clarke and Ballycastle had shot 2-5 without reply to open up an interval advantage of 2-7 to 0-5.
The game was over within 60 seconds of the re-start when good work from Jennings released Clarke and there was only going to be one result when he gotspace.
St Mary’s battled gamely for the rest of the half, but made little inroads on Ballycastle’s lead.
Then Clarke broke free once more in the final 5 minutes to bag three excellent points and clinch an emphatic victory.
Cross & Passion : S McGinn, P Blaney, M Donnelly capt, P McLernon, D Donnelly 0-1, D McPeake, N Murray, C Laverty, R McCloskey, S Jennings 1-1, J McShane 0-1, Sean McAfee, Stephen McAfee 1-2, J Black 0-1, C Clarke 1-10, 0-6 frees.
St Mary’s : E Cooke, C Devlin, C Mc Clelland, C Orchin, C Johnston, M Rea, D Best, C Mc Guinness 0-2, J Savage 0-6 frees, D Lynch, D Boyd, E Quinn, M Bradley, C Murray 0-2, S Rooney.
Subs : P Napier for D Lynch (ht), M Lyons for D Best (37), A Shannon 0-2 for C Johnson (42), Daniel McKernan, Michael Bradley, Declan Creggan, Peter Napier, Kevin Holland, Ciaran Quinn, Anthony Shannon, James Gaskin, Brendan Bradley, Jackson Mc Greevy.
Referee : O Elliott (All Saints).
Submitted by: Seamus McAleenan
