Tough A League debut for St John’s U-14s:
Carryduff A 4-08 v 3-09 St John’s
Thu 20th Apr
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St John’s were expecting a tough
introduction to A league football when
they travelled to Carryduff and they
were not disappointed in that respect.
The team did not disappoint either in
they way that they rose to the
challenge, refused to be put off by
setbacks and took the game to their
opponents.
Carryduff got off to a flying start and
St John’s appeared a bit shell shocked
in the opening exchanges. Somehow they
restricted Carryduff to shooting a
couple of wides before Conor Morgan
pointed a free to give the opening score
to the visitors. That score did not
change the flow of the game and
Carryduff continued to set the pace. It
was no surprise when they pointed an
equalizer and then goaled to take the
lead and emphasise their early
dominance.
However, St John’s
weren’t going to lie down and Martin
Keenan scored an equalizing goal when
Chris McKay’s clever pass got him in
behind the Carryduff defence. Chris
McKay then added a point to give the
visitors an unexpected lead.
Carryduff had a number of tall players scattered about their
team and their midfield was on top as
the next ten minutes belonged to
Carryduff. They added two goals and a
brace of points, and it would have been
more but for two fine saves from Chris
Feenan.
St John’s had to work hard to get the
ball upfield against the bigger team,
but they started to do that in the
closing stages of the first period.
Darren Savage pointed but Carryduff
cancelled that out, before the same
player pointed again and Conor Morgan
pointed a free to leave the scores at
the interval 3-4 to 1-5.
St John’s made a number of positional
changes at the break but again it was
Carryduff who started the brighter.
Again it was St John’s who got the first
score, from Darren Savage again, but
that was soon cancelled out by a well
taken point for the home side. However,
Jamie Artt, Harry McMullan, Daniel McKay
were beginning to get some measure of
their opponents while Joe Milligan and
Neil Magorrian were slowing any
Carryduff advances down the flanks.
St John’s were moving the ball better
now as well, with Ryan Gordon, Darren
Burns, Conor Morgan and especially Hugh
Flanagan combining to bring the ball
from defence to attack. Chris McKay
fired into the net from a quickly taken
free but almost immediately St John’s
conceded a soft goal to restore the
margin to five points.
With fifteen minutes to go
St John’s began to turn the screw, and
with more ball going into Ruairi McGlynn,
Joshua Wells and Martin Keenan they were
creating more threatening
opportunities. Points from Darren
Savage and Chris McKay reduced the
margin to three points – maybe just one
score. Carryduff pointed to give
themselves some breathing space. Ruairi
McGlynn pointed to bring the game alive
again but again Carryduff pointed in
reply.
With five minutes remaining Darren Savage showed his pace to
burst through for a goal to reduce the
margin to one point. When Chris McKay
pointed from the left the teams were
level with a couple of minutes to play.
The final point of the evening went to
the home side to give them a victory
that they probably deserved when the
entire sixty minutes is considered.
St John’s: Chris Feenan; Jamie Artt, Ryan Gordon, Daniel
McKay; Joe Milligan, Darren Burns, Neil
Magorrian; Harry McMullan, Darren
Savage(1-4); Hugh Flanagan, Conor
Morgan(0-2, 2f), Christopher McKay(1-3,
2f); Martin Keenan (1-0), Ruairi McGlynn
(0-1), Joshua Wells. Sub Conor Gilmore.
