Rostrevor PS
retain Canon Esler Cup
Colm Fitzpatrick
GOAL-HAPPY ROSTREVOR RETAIN TITLE
St Mary’s PS, Rostrevor 9-1 St
Patrick’s, Mayobridge 2-4
With their school scheduled to go out of
existence following the amalgamation
with the local girls school at the end
of this school; year, the boys of St
Mary’s gave notice that they intend this
historic final season to be a successful
one when they retained the Canon Esler
Cup by beating St Patricks Mayobridge
with a scintillating exhibition of
goalscoring in last weeks final in
Clonduff.
HEROICS
Despite the heroics of their brave
goalkeeper, Cathal Greenan, mayobridge
were unable to contain the sweeping
attacking football of the talented
Rostrevor lads, who were driven on by
the inspiring play of Paul Morgan in the
middle of the field. The gallant losers
did start impressively, however, with
midfielder Barry Cunningham replying
with two well-worked points to an earlt
Rostrevor goal from Jonathan
Connolly.Bit they lost touch in the
second quarter as Anthony Connolly, the
tricky Jordan Fegan and Blaine Morgan
hit three goals in succession to put the
Rostrevor lads comfortably in front.
MORE
GOALS
Kevin Fitzpatrick did pull a point back
to leave St Patricks 0-3 to 4-0 behind
at the interval. But Rostrevor resumed
the second half as they had left off in
the firs; paul Morgan set up Jonathan
Connolly for the full forward’s second
goal, then added another himself. And a
brilliant effort from Piaras Kane pushed
the holders an impregnable 7-0 to 0-3
clear midway through the second
half.Mayobridge never stopped battling
and were rewarded in the final quarter
by goals from kevin Fitzpatrick and
Barry Cunningham. And when Kevin
Fitzpatrick and Jonathan Connolly
exchanged points, the Rostrevor lead was
clipped back to four goals. The
champions finished on a high note,
however, and Blaine Morgan completed his
‘hat-trick’ with two more goals to round
off the scoring.
TARGETS
This win earns Rostrevor entry into the
Ulster primary Schools Championship,
[the McGreevy Cup], and having been
narrowly beaten in the final of the
provincial competition last season,
Rostrevor can now aim to go one better
in the coming year.
In this game, they had outstanding
performers in Paul Morgan, Piaras Kane,
Jordan Fegan, Jonathan Connolly and Sean
Cooper. St Patricks played valiantly
against the odds, with Cathal Greenan,
Conor Rooney, Barry Cunnongham and Kevin
Fitzpatrick all shinig brightly.
Rostrevor scorers; Blaine Morgan [3-0];
Jonathan Connolly [2-1]; Anthony
Connolly [1-0]; Jordan Fegan [1-0];
Piaras Kane [1-0]; Paul Morgan [1-0].
Mayobridge scorers; Barry Cunningham
[1-2]; Kevin Fitzpatrick [1-2]
