29 October 2011
The second half performance of Conor Johnston steadied the ship for St Mary’s and saw them over the line in the BT Mageean Cup final in Armoy on Saturday morning.
St Mary’s led by 0-8 to 0-0 at the break with 0-3 each from Michael Bradley and Padraig Nugent and they were in control of the game.
Johnston’s jinxing runs contributed to that, but so too did the midfield diamond of Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Jackson McGreevy, Bradley and Daragh McGuinness.
Ballycastle offered plenty of resistance at the back, where they were under a lot of pressure, but their attempts up front were few and far between.
However that changed at the start of the second half, with Paddy Blaney out at centre-half back and Ryan McCambridge breaking the St Mary’s dominance at midfield.
Cormac McClafferty popped over two frees either side of a long range speculative effort from Conor Christie that went all the way to the net.
Ballycastle were back in the game at 0-8 to 1-2 and St Mary’s looked unsettled, epitomised by chances squandered from scoreable frees.
However Johnston took over the free-taking role, hitting 3 in succession between the 42nd and 48th minutes and St Mary’s were back on track.
He added another from play before Cross and Passion broke and Saul McCaughan fired across goalie Donal Quinn. With 5 minutes to go, a free from 65 metres by Niall McFadden went over the bar to reduce the margin to 3 points again.
Once more however Johnston stepped up to the mark and pointed a free and Cross & Passion’s resistance was broken.
Overall St Mary’s were the dominant side, but the strong cross-field wind forced them to change their style to working the sliotar short and shooting from closer range.
They had the majority of the possession, but the Ballycastle goals really tested them. Lucky they had that steadying influence in front of the posts.
St Mary’s : Donal Quinn, Aidan Orchin, Stephen Rooney, Thomas Manning, Tomás Ó Cairealláin, Ciaran Johnston, Jackson McGreevy, Michael Dudley 0-1, Naoise O Cairealláin, Conor Johnston 0-5, 0-4 frees, Michael Bradley 0-3, Darragh McGuinness, Donal Moran, Patrick Nugent 0-3, 0-2 frees, Daniel McKiernan capt. 0-1.
Sub : Conor O’Rawe for D Moran (52).
Cross & Passion College : Alex Delargy, Patrick McBride, Patrick Blaney capt, Ruairi Laverty, Paul McErlain, Niall McFadden 0-1 free, Aidan Corbett, Ryan McCambridge, Eoghan Campbell, Conor Christie 1-0, Conal Brown, Patrick Butler, Saul McCaughan 1-0, Connlaoth McNeill, Cormac McClafferty 0-2 frees.
Subs : Cormac McAllister for Patrick Butler (35), Conor McCurdy for C McNeill (50).
Referee : John Devlin (Tyrone).
Submitted by: Seamus McAleenan
