Harrison & Rooney star for St. Johns

Harrison & Rooney star for St. Johns

St. John’s stop start season has finally gained some momentum following a deserved victory over Curry played in warm sunshine in Markievicz Park on Saturday evening last, writes Michael McGee.

The Gods finally shone down on a St. John’s side who conceded two quick fire goals from Geevagh in the previous round. This time two goals in the first half following blunders in the Curry defence gifted St. John’s and put them on the road to victory.  The highlights of the match will be best remembered by two epic points scored from St. John’s Charlie Harrison and Mark Rooney.

Curry threatened right at the very start which seen Stephen Kilcoyne in space in front of goal and Noel O’Donnell pulled off a magnificent right handed save to deny the Curry forward.  Adrian Marren opened the scoring from 20 meters after 5 minutes.  Tenacious defending from Curry managed to keep their line from being breached.  St. John’s talisman Charlie Harrison who threatened every time he had ball in hand got St. John’s first score following a strong run from Tommy Kelly through the heart of the Curry defence. Harrison hand passed over the bar to open St. John’s account on 11 minutes. St. John’s full forward Ian Rossitor put the Carraroe side in front with a good score from 16 meters out and it was to get even better for Anthony Brennan’s side when Fiachra Grennan capitalized on a defensive lapse in the Curry defence to score a goal from close range with 16 minutes gone. Curry’s imposing midfielder Sean Davey reduced St. John’s lead with a good score following good work from Steven Kilcoyne.  St. John’s Tommy Kelly was posing problems for the Curry rearguard with his seering pace running route 1 straight towards the Curry goal every time he gained possession.  Kelly was hauled down 20 meters from the Curry goal and Shane Stenson tapped over the resulting free. Killian Sweeney pointed after Stenson’s attempted point was block down to put St. John’s into a 1-3 0-2 lead after 23 minutes of play.  Curry’s county star Adrian Marren was stopped when heading for goal. He took the resulting 14 metre free himself.  Disaster struck again for Denis Carney’s side with O’Hora in the Curry goal dropping the ball out of his hands and Tommy Kelly duly stuck the snapshot into the empty net for a fortuitous strike to set St. John’s heartstrings dancing amongst their supporters.  Kevin Giblin pointed for Curry on the stroke of half time with St. John’s leading by 2-4 to 0-5.

 Four points from Curry two each from Steven Kilcoyne & Adrian Marren reduced St. John’s lead by the minimum 2-4 0-9 by the 40 minute.  Just when it looked that Curry would take over up stepped one Charlie Harrison. Harrison’s moment of magic scored an inspiration point from over on the right  side line landing a monster shot from an acute angle from 20 metres. Aaron Clerkin who was having a fine game for the Carraroe men was black carded soon after.  St. John’s Anthony Brennan signalled for Mark Rooney to enter the fray and he made an immediate impact and changed the course of the match.   Rooney’s first touch on the ball seen him point following a good pass from the energetic Tommy Kelly.  Almost immediately Rooney  was on hand to double his strike rate in as many minutes to put St. John’s into an 2-7 0-9 lead after 20 minutes of the second half played. Points from Giblin & Marren kept Curry in touch but St. John’s finished strongly. Tommy Kelly reminiscence of Meath’s David “Jinksy” Beggy set off on a mazy 45 metre run and guided the ball over the bar. Another outrageous scintillating score this time from Rooney near where Charlie Harrison scored his put St. John’s almost out of sight. Killian Sweeney made sure St. John’s were going home happy with a point in added time.  Anthony Brennan will be overall pleased with his side’s performance with every member showing a willingness to work hard. Particularly satisfying unlike last week against Geevagh the side didn’t panic when Curry scored 4 points with reply early in the second half. Harrison’s wonder point and that of Rooney’s set St. John’s up for a deserved win.  Best for St John’s was Charlie Harrison, Mark Rooney, Niall Walsh, Fiachra Greenan, Tommy Kelly, Shane Stenson & Aaron Clerkin while Curry had the influential Adrian Marren, Sean Davey, Stephen Kilcoyne, Thomas Colleary, Kevin Giblin & Brian McDonagh all playing their part.

Scorers St. John’s Fiachra Greenan 1-0, Tommy Kelly 1-1, Mark Rooney 0-3, Charlie Harrison 0-2, Killian Sweeney 0-2, Ian Rossitor 0-1, Shane Stenson 0-1.

Curry: Adrian Marren 0-5, Stephen Kilcoyne 0-2, Kevin Giblin 0-2, Sean Davey 0-1, Brian McDonagh 0-1.

St. John’s:  Noel O’Donnell, Aaron Clerkin, Niall Walsh, Enda Roche, Feidhlim Murphy, David Rooney, Jamie Grehan, James Murphy, Shane Stenson, Charlie Harrison, Philip Greene, Tommy Kelly, Ian Rossitor, Fiachra Grennan, Killian Sweeney.

Subs: Oisin Cox for Murphy 38 mins, Daniel Smith for James Murphy 38 mins, Conor Green for Ian Rossitor 38 mins,

Curry: John O’Hora, Johnny Durcan, Tommy Stenson, Kenneth Morley, Sean Haran, Aodan Brennan, James Walsh, Thomas Colleary Sean Davey,  Stephen Kilcoyne, Brian McDonagh, Conor McIntrye, Danny O’ Hora,  Adrian Marren, Kevin Giblin,

Subs: Keith Davey for McIntryre 38 mins,  Sean Doherty for O’Hara 43 mins,  Stephen Maher for Brennan 57 minutes

Referee: Ciaran O’Donnell