East Down U-16 B Football Championship Semi Final: St Josephs (Ballykinlar/Dundrum) 3-15 Ardglass 1-07

A determined and passionate performance from St Josephs saw them dispose of a hotly fancied Ardglass team at a sunny Loughinisland on Saturday morning.
Despite Ardglass playing their League football in the A section and the Saints plying their trade in the B, the gulf in class was most certainly not evident as the amalgamation turned the tables on their supposedly superior opposition.
In a fast paced start to the game the Saints quickly raced in to a 1-06 to no score lead. Sean O'Rourke was chief scorer with 1-03 to his name while Patrick Curry, Brendan Cunningham and Anthony Mageean weighed in with a point each.
Ardglass soon found their range though and points from Malachy Crangle and Stephen Rooney give their team a boost. Yet St Josephs were feeling ruthless as they closed out the half with a tally of 1-03. The dynamic Anthony Mageean found the Ardglass net aswell as adding two points to his total before Sean O'Rourke finished the 1st half with his fourth point of the affair.
The 2nd half witnessed a much improved performance from Ardglass. They altered their tactics and switched around their key personnel to great effect. By the time the final whistle blew they just lost the 2nd half by the smallest of margins, 1-06 to 1-05.
The early exchanges of the second period saw St Josephs twice exchange scores with the Seasiders. The Saint's efforts came from Patrick Curry and Brendan Cunningham. Following this Ardglass went on to grab two on the trot without reply. These were the result of some great kicking from Daniel Maginn and David Kearney.
St Josephs werent going to lie down though as Brendan Cunningham and Sean O'Rourke replied with intent. Yet Ardglass kept coming back for more and in the space of three minutes they converted 1-01 to bring themselves within nine points of their soon to be conquerors.
However, in all truthfullness the Saints never looked like being caught and O'Rourke's second goal followed by his sixth point put the game beyond Ardglass's reach. In a dreary final few minutes Brendan Cunningham lofted over a fine point to cement his team's fourteen point win.
The amalgamation now proceed to a Final pairing with Teconnaught. If success is to be garnered then Eamon King, Kieran Carville, Conor Miskelly, Anthony Mageean, Mark Grant, Brendan Cunningham and Sean O'Rourke will all have to repeat similar performances like they did in this game.

St Josephs: E.King, D.Brennan, K.Carville, R.Melville, C.McKee, C.Miskelly, P.Curry (0-02), A.Mageean (1-03), P.Mageean, S.Murray, B.Cunningham (0-04, 2F), M.Grant, C.Rooney, S.O'Rourke (2-06, 2F), S.Mason. Subs: A.Killen, R.Smith, R.Kavanagh, C.Mageean, C.Mason