St.John’s enterprising effort just falls short

Furey Coaches Sponsored SFL Division 1 Round 4 St. John’s 0-13 Calry /St. Joseph’s 1-14

St.John’s enterprising effort just falls short.

Calry St. Joseph’s defeated an ever improving St. John’s in an entertaining game of football in sunny Stenson Park on Sunday.  Had Tommy’s Kelly’s goal being allowed to stand and the St. John’s forward’s a little more clinical in front of goals  the end result could have been altogether different, writes Michael McGee.

Calry St.Joseph’s opening the scoring on their first attack with Eoin Doherty converting a free from a difficult angle on the 20 metre line.  A Shane Stenson free from the half way line was gathered by James Murphy who was then fouled and up came Paul McNamara to fire over the free after 3 minutes.  Paul McNamara fed Ian Rossitor for a point to edge St. John’s in front after 5 minutes.  The St.John’s defence were then unhinged after Eoin Doherty found Patrick Heraghty . Alex Selby came in to challenge but slipped allowing Heraghty a free run in and he made no mistake from 14 metres out for the only goal of the match. Brian Harris closed the gap with a point following good work from Robbie Fahy who intercepted the ball being played out of the Calry defence.  Calry’s Eoin Dohety did well to score despite good defending from Alex Selby.  St.John’s Tommy Kelly was put through on goal and he made no mistake on 13 minutes but referee Joe Hynes disallowed what looked like a perfect good goal.    The fleet footed Brian McGowan was fouled when bearing down on goals and Mark Rooney put the resulting free over the bar soon after.   Tommy Kelly is showing signs of his explosive speed up front with a great pointed run slotting over expertly 30 metres out to level the match at 0-5 to Calry’s 1-2. Darragh McConnon was given a black card following a heavy tackle on St. John’s Conor Greene.  A great passing movement involving Paul McNamara, Tommy Kelly who laid the ball off to Brian Harris who made no mistake with a good score. With the last kick of the first half Calry’s Patrick Heraghty pointed to send both teams in level at half time St. John’s 0-6 Calry/St.Joseph’s 1-3.

St.John’s Noel O’Donnell was called into action right at the start of the second half when saving from Calry’s Eoin Doherty but the Calry man got a second bite at the cherry when slotting over.  St. John’s Brian Harris excellent and well struck free off the ground from 45 metres out was an inspirational score to level the match at 0-7 to 1-4.  Calry’s Ciaran Stenson edged his side in front but Brian Harris had his shooting boots on as he delivered another breathtaking score again 45 meters out  and this was quickly added to by James Murphy.  Shane Stenson got in on the scoring spree when landing over another good score after good work from Tommy Kelly with St. John’s leading by 0-10 to 1-5 after 43 minutes of play. Damien O’Boyle reduced the saints lead but St. John’s kept working hard and James Murphy burst past 3 tackles for a great individual score.  Calry’s Eoin Doherty 13 metre free kept last year’s Intermediate champions within arms reach.  Shane Stenson’s expertly struck side line ball 40 metres out was brilliantly caught by James Murphy to turned quickly firing over giving St. John’s a two point advantage with 11 minutes left.  Calry/ St. Joseph’s hit a purple patch when landing over 4 unanswered points in a seven minute spell.  Eoin Doherty (2) Brian McGovern & Pat Heraghty to leave it 1-12 to 0-12 in Calry’s favour.  Great work form the roving Brian McGowan ended with another Tommy Kelly point.  But two late scores from Eoin Doherty free and Patrick Heraghty on 30 minutes sealed the win for Calry/St.Joseph’s.   The St.John’s strikeforce of Harris, Kelly & Murphy are beginning to take shape and the trio look set to terrorise defences later in the campaign.  St.John’s tally of 10 wides over the course of the game didn’t help their cause and a number of good opportunities for scores dropped short into the welcome hands of Calry goalie Aidan Devanney.  Next up for St.John’s is an away tie against Bunninadden next Sunday.

Best for St.John’s was the industrious Paul McNamara, Alex Selby, Brian McGowan,Shane Stenson, Tommy Kelly, Brian Harris & James Murphy while Calry’s  Damien O’Boyle, Vincent Nally, Eoin Doherty, Patrick Heraghty & Jack Ballantyne all contributed to Calry’s win.

Scorers:  St.John’s Brian Harris 0-4, James Murphy 0-3, Tommy Kelly 0-2, Ian Rossitor 0-1,Paul McNamara 0-1 (1 free) , Mark Rooney 1 (1free), Shane Stenson 0-1.

Calry/St. Joseph’s: Eoin Doherty 0-7 (4 frees), Patrick Heraghty 1-4, Ciaran Stenson 0-1, Damien O’ Boyle 0-1, Brian McGowan 0-1

Noel O’Donnell, Enda Roche, Jamie Grehan, Alex Selby, Brian McGowan, Neil Hayes, Robbie Fahy, Paul McNamara, Shane Stenson, Tommy Kelly, Mark Rooney, Conor Greene, Brian Harris,  James Murphy , Ian Rossitor.

Subs: Oisin Cox for Mark Rooney 36 mins, Ross Gordon for Ian Rossitor 39 min, Geoff Corcoran for Alex Selby 46 minutes

Calry/St.Joseph’s:   Aidan Devanney, Donal Keown, Darragh McConnon, Fiachra Coyne, Andrew Dodd, Vincent Nally, Jonathon McGoldrick, Damien O’Boyle, Jack Ballantyne, Ciaran Stenson, Aaron Flynn, Eoin Nicholson, Eoin Doherty, Patrick Heraghty Bryan McGovern.

Subs: Joseph Farrell for Eoin Nicholson (20 minutes), Adrian Cummins for Darragh Mc Connon (BC) (24 minutes),Brian Shannon for Jonathon McGoldrick (36 minutes) 

Referee Joe Hynes St. Michael’s.

Action photos from today's St.John's v Calry/St.Joseph's Div 1 league match in  Stenson Park