St John’s under-10s show well at Blitz

Sat 2^nd July 2005                                          East Down Blitz @ Kilclief

 

Nineteen teams of eager young footballers, including twenty boys and girls from St John’s, enjoyed a great day of football on Saturday at Kilclief in the third East Down blitz. St John’s had their work cut out when they were grouped with Castlewellan, Drumaness, Loughinisland and Saul.

 

Saul, in particular, came into the group on the back of very impressive performances at the previous blitzes. They carried on in a similar vein beating all comers including St John’s in the opening game. Indeed they set the standards in terms of the quality of the football they played, and the other teams can learn a lot from their quick passing and movement.

 

Indeed St John’s had no answer to the variety of Saul’s attacking play. Too often players were caught out watching the ball and not marking their man. Kevin Keenan got in a number of blocks to repel some of the Saul attacks while Patrick Flynn, Darren Kelly and Jerome Gordon also deserve credit for their application to their defensive duties. St John’s were better in the second period with Conor Gilmore dropping back to help out as a third midfielder while Aidan Morgan added mobility in attack, but were still second best to the fluidity of the Saul team. Neil Savage was also invaluable in goals.

 

In their second game St John’s played Loughinisland and came out on top courtesy of a strong second half performance. There was still a lot of room for improvement in St John’s play. The team suffered as the players seemed to have added two new rules. One was that the player in possession must try to beat three opponents before thinking about passing. The other was that although the pitch was 45m wide, St John’s only used a 10m strip up the middle.

 

A goal from Patrick Keenan and a point from his brother Michael were good reward from a bright opening with Gavin Marmion, Channan Savage and Kathleen Milligan keeping the Loughinisland defenders occupied. Loughinisland got a goal back before the break despite good work by Colm Kelly and Conor Gilmore at the back. The Johnnies upped their work rate again in the second period and did all the attacking. However the passing was poor and they were unable to add further to the scoreline until Kevin Keenan pointed before the ends.

 

St John’s then played out a draw with Castlewellan. On balance this was probably a fair result although the Johnnies had chances to win it in the last quarter. Although Castlewellan got an early point to open the scoring, the fullback line, also know as the Kelly gang – Colm, Darren and William, stayed close to their men and restricted the chances thereafter. A goal from Patrick Keenan put the Johnnies ahead after good work from Patrick O’Neill but Castlewellan pointed again to reduce the margin to the minimum at the break.

 

The mobility of Barry McAnulty and Francis Lynch keep the Castlewellan defenders on their toes but both were frustrated as players further outfield over-carried the ball rather than putting quick passes through to the forwards.

Kevin Keenan pointed but Castlewellan put two over to restore parity. St John’s had a couple of chances to seal it but fired wide.

 

It wasn’t until the last game that St John’s started to play the quality football they had shown in previous outings, with promising showings from Michael McMullan, Jamie McKevitt and Ciaran McKay. Although the approach play was greatly improved the finishing was wayward and Drumaness were able to take a lead into the break. Drumaness got another point at the start of the second period but the St John’s forwards had got their shooting boots on in the second period and a couple of scores each from Kevin, Michael and Patrick Keenan eased them to a victory to secure a share of second spot in the group.

 

St John’s squad: Colm Kelly, Kevin Keenan, Michael Keenan, Patrick Keenan,  Channan Savage, Kathleen Milligan, Patrick Flynn, Conor Gilmore, Patrick O’Neill, Darren Kelly, Jerome Gordon, Gavin Marmion, Francis Lynch, Neil Savage, Barry McAnulty, William Kelly, Aidan Morgan, Michael McMullan, Jamie McKevitt, Ciaran McKay.