St John's News
St John’s 5-08 v 2-03 Ardglass
Thur 14th April
St John’s under-14s picked up their
second win out of two with an impressive
win against Ardglass. Both sides were
suffering absentees through injuries but
the home side will be pleased with the
performances of a number of new faces
from the under-12 squad. Of these, Chris
Feenan was probably the most valuable.
He has already proved himself to be a
very capable goalkeeper at under-12
level and he made a couple of stops in
the first half that were every bit as
valuable as the scores that the forwards
were taking at the same time. It wasn’t
that these were outstanding saves but he
stood up bravely in the face of Ardglass
attackers and made himself difficult to
beat.
There was little to choose between the
sides in the opening quarter. Perhaps
St John’s were slightly brighter in the
sodden conditions but it was Ardglass
who were first on the scoreboard. David
Milling produced a couple of burst from
midfield to send over a brace of scores
in reply. Darren Savage added a third
before Ardglass got their second.
Ardglass pressed forward for a time, but
Chris Feenan was equal to anything that
came his way. Then Martin Keenan netted
for the Johnnies after good fielding by
Hugh Flanagan. In truth the goal was
fortunate – Ardglass will be
disappointed that neither defenders nor
the goalkeeper stopped it.
Both teams continued to attack but
Ardglass could only manage one more
point before the break. In reply Darren
Savage got a couple of further scores.
The first was a good point and the
second was a goal from a free – again
there was an element of good fortune in
this, as it seemed to go over and
between the three defenders on the line.
So it was that St John’s took a 2-04 to
0-03 lead into the break which was
probably a bit flattering for the
Johnnies. Nonetheless St John’s went out
for the second period in a buoyant mood.
They won plenty of possession and moved
the ball around with style.
Soon the Johnnies had stretched their
lead with points by Martin Keenan, David
Milling and Shane Rice. Coaches are
forever telling young players to
practice with both right and left feet.
When Shane fired that point over with
his left boot it was nice to know that
someone had been listening!
The next score was the pick of the
bunch, a fine example of the teamwork,
support play and fluid passing that was
seen several times throughout the day in
spite of the slippery conditions. Darren
Savage won possession in midfield and
passed to Shane Rice, Shane passed
forward to Jamie Artt, Jamie collected
the bal and played it back to the
rushing David Milling. David played it
forward to Harry McMullan who came
running off his shoulder and Harry shot
low to the back of the net. Harry gets
listed as scorer but this was a team
effort.
Teamwork was again to the fore as Hugh
Flanagan played in Ryan O’Reilly for a
fifth goal, before Harry McMullan added
another point. This left the score at
5-08 to 0-03.
But shortly after that the wheels came
off the St John’s’ bus as confidence
turned to complacency. Thinking the game
was won some defenders tried to push
forward (Daniel McKay is free from blame
here) and several forwards didn’t bother
to chase back. Ardglass had a couple of
goal chances but the efforts dropped
short. The might have had a couple of
goal too were it not for the maturity of
centre fielders David Milling and Shane
Rice who dropped back and collected
shots in their own square. This spell of
Ardglass pressure did pay dividends as
they managed to find the net twice in
the closing five minutes, either side of
a point by Chris McKay.
DM II X
DS IIX
MK X
HT
MK I
SR I
HMCM XI
ROR X
CMCK I
St John’s: Chris Feenan; Anthony Doran,
Daniel McKay, Patrick Keenan; Declan
Gilmore, Darren Savage, Chris McKay;
David Milling, Shane Rice; Conor Morgan,
Harry McMullan, Ryan O’Reilly; Hugh
Flanagan, Jamie Artt, Martin Keenan.
Subs – Kevin Keenan for Patrick Keenan
(h-t), Patrick Keenan for Anthony Doran
(40).
