Bank Holiday “blues” for St. John’s

Bank Holiday “blues” for St. John’s

Arch rivals St. Mary’s inspired by Mark Breheny ran out comfortable winners over a disjointed St. John's that failed to ignite on Saturday evening last in Markievicz Park, writes Michael McGee.

Despite the welcome return of St. John’s Shane Stenson to the starting fifteen his team mates couldn’t break down a resolute St.Mary’s side that improved on their last outing against Geevagh.

St. John’s appeared to be on top in the early stages when breaking up a number of promising St. Mary’s attacking moves. However it didn’t last long. Mark McGoldrick the pacy St. Mary’s corner forward put them ahead after 4 minutes.  Colm Egan ran through the heart of the St. John’s defence to double St. Mary’s lead.    St. John’s opened their account with a point on 16 minutes with Oisin Cox receiving a pass from Shane Stenson.   The St. John’s goal was breached after just 17 minutes with McGoldrick rifling home a goal following a great pass from Steven Coen.  St. John’s were awarded a free after a bad kick out from the St. Mary’s goalie and John Scanlon pointed from 17 meters out.   At the other end Mark Breheny pointed for St. Mary’s.  St Mary’s nearly had a second goal soon after with Steven Coen’s high ball in from the left wing bounced over goalie Philip Greene and the St. John’s corner back Eoin Flanagan had to be sharp to keep out McGoldrick’s shot.   St. John’s were forced into a substitution on 22 minutes with Conor Greene moving to  the half forward line for the injured James Murphy  and Shane Stenson moving to midfield.  Mark Breheny was already having a field day for St. Mary’s in Markievicz Park with his second score (of six) from the 13 meter line with 24 minutes gone. Colm Egan added another point almost immediately afterwards. Mark Breheny was fouled and he took the free himself firing over bar with his left foot on 28 minutes.    Steven Kerins who otherwise had a very good game for St. John’s was adjudged to have over carried the ball and Breheny was again on hand to put over the resulting free over the bar. St. John’s John Scanlon ended the scoring in the first half with a free from 15 meters following a foul on Daniel Smith.  The likes of Johnny Martyn & Johnny Davey already were giving eye catching performances for the St. Mary’s rearguard and they coped with anything that came their way bursting out of defence to set up numerous attacks. St.Mary’s led at half time by 1-8 to 0-3.  When the sides came out for the second half St. John’s made a change with Ronan McGarrigle coming in for the injured Mark Rooney.

Niall McManus blazed wide for St. Mary’s in their first attack on the St. John’s goal in the second half and should have done better with his effort.  Mickey O’Hehir did enough to put McManus off. However O’Hehir had to go off with a shoulder injury with St. John’s injury worries mounting.  O’Hehir was replaced by Phelim Murphy. Disaster struck again for St. John’s with Mark Breheny totally unmarked over on the left wing his attempted point from a difficult angle came back off the upright and Steven Coen reacted quickest to put the ball away past Philip Greene in the St. John’s goal after 9 minutes, with St. Mary’s moving into a big 2-8 0-3 lead.  Oisin Cox got a great score for St. John’s when he curled over a great score from 35 meters.   Brian McGowan then came in for the injured John Scanlon.  With the play opening up it suited the St. Mary’s forward line that moved the ball at great speed. Breheny who excels with the open spaces in Markievicz Park again pointing from 20 meters out after 14 minutes.  Philip Greene was forced into a double great save in the space of two minutes from Mark McGoldrick.  McGoldrick was clean through on goal following a great pass from St. Mary’s number 4 Kevin Coen. Greene pulling off the save. Greene had to be alert once again when he pushed McGoldrick’s shot onto the post after being put through by Breheny. It was all St. Mary’s in the last 10 minutes and further scores from Coen (3) and Breheny. A fitter looking St. Mary’s finished strongly ran down the clock in the last couple of minutes bringing on a number of subs.   St. Mary’s had an easier than expected 2-13 to 0-5 victory over their nearest rivals and on Saturday’s evening’s showing will be short odds to go all the way in this year’s Championships.  St.Mary’s all round unit played well especially the half back line of Martyn, Davey & Lynch who managed to snuff out the St. John’s half forward line threat. Steven Coen, Colm Egan & Mark McGoldrick all stood out in the full forward line. Mark Breheny too, very experienced (contributing 6 points) when the play opened up was almost unmarkable.   St. Mary’s manager Tommy Breheny will be overall pleased with his team’s second impressive outing in the championships while St. John’s manager Anthony Brennan will be doing a lot of soul searching on how to resurrect their uninspiring campaign. One glimmer of hope for St. John’s will be the return of County Star Charlie Harrison.  Judging from his team’s lacklustre display his imminent return cannot come soon enough.

Scorers St. Mary’s: Steven Coen (1-3)  Mark Breheny (0-6) Mark McGoldrick (1-2) Colm Egan (0-2)

St. John’s: Oisin Cox (2) John Scanlon (2) Brian Harris (1)

St. Mary’s: Mark Rooney, Kiki O’Grady, Kevin Coen, Ben McGarry, Johnny Martyn, Jonny Davey, Johnny Lynch,Brian Smith, Dermot O’Connor, Niall McManus, Mark Breheny,  Chris Kelly, Steven Coen,  Colm Egan, Mark McGodrick. Subs Seamus Cawley (52 mins), Niall McManus (55 mins), David Martyn & Ciaran O’Boyle (57 mins)

St. John’s:  Philip Greene, Eoin Flanagan, Niall Walsh, Mickey O’Hehir, Niall Hayes, Steven Kerins, Tommy Kelly, James Murphy, Oisin Cox, Daniel Smyth, David Rooney, Shane Stenson, Brian Harris, Mark Rooney, John Scanlon. Subs:  Conor Greene (24 mins)  Ronan McGarrigle (HT) Brian McGowan (48 mins)

Referee: John Gilmartin