St John’s under-10s reach semis at An
Riocht Tournament
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St John’s were one of fourteen teams of
under-10 footballers to compete for the
Jim Mulholland Cup and Shield at An
Riocht on 8th July. The young
Johnnies team blew hot and cold – the
produced some great phases of football
but there were times as well when every
pass seemed to go to an opponent.
While An Riocht’s “A” team went on to
win the Cup competition, beating Kilcoo
in the final, their “B” team, who
provided our first opposition, were a
less experienced outfit. Points from
William Kelly and a pointed free by
Barry McAnulty gave us a first half lead
and a penalty by Joe Boyle shortly after
the restart secured the result. Aidan
Morgan was secure in goals throughout
and when Barry McAnulty added another
goal before the end it was the icing on
the cake. Indeed Francis Lynch nearly
extended the margin but his effort was
narrowly wide.
Second up were Rostrevor, who proved to
be much tougher opposition and the game
was lost from the
St John’s perspective by the interval.
St John’s did improve in the second
period with both Cushla Savage and
Conall McPoland causing problems for the
Rostrevor defence. For all their good
efforts at the back Michael McMullan and
Gavin Lively could not prevent Rostrevor
adding to their tally. Rostrevor were
the toughest opponents we faced and only
went out to eventual Cup winners An
Riocht in the knockout stages.
The final opponents at the group stage
were Saval who came into the contest
with wins over Rostrevor and An Riocht B
under their belt. We made a better
effort than in the previous game with
Sam Walsh and William Kelly imposing
themselves in the centre of the field
and captain Gavin Marmion in control
behind them. We took an early lead with
scores from Aidan Morgan and Barry
McAnulty but Saval hit back to get one
score ahead at the turnaround. The
second period was cut and thrust with
both teams creating and taking chances.
In the end though it was Saval who were
first to the ball more often as St
John’s players were sometimes guilty of
“waiting for the ball” and were able to
convert their possession into scores.
Having finished third in the group we
went through to the knockout stages for
the Shield.
St John’s had a bye at the quarter final
stage when it would have been better to
get playing and then took on Longstone
in the semi-final. Darren Kelly played
well in goals, effectively shielded by
Francis Lynch and Gavin Lively. William
Kelly and Gavin Marmion defended well
too and assisted midfielders Sam Walsh
and Barry McAnulty in turned defence
into attack with clever passes to better
placed colleagues. Cushla Savage, Aidan
Morgan and Conall McPoland, along with
Michael McMullan, now released from his
defensive duties, kept Longstone on the
back foot for extended periods. But the
Johnnies couldn’t get the scores needed
to prevent Longstone progressing to the
final where they lifted the Shield with
a win over Dromara.
All 200 players who took part received a
medal, and we would like to thank the An
Riocht club for their invitation and
their hospitality on the day.
St Johns squad: Darren Kelly, Michael
McMullan, Gavin Marmion (captain),
Francis Lynch, Sam Walsh, Gavin Lively,
Barry McAnulty, William Kelly, Conall
McPoland, Aidan Morgan, Cushla Savage,
Joe Boyle.
