St John’s 0-06 v 2-10
Saul Tue 14th Aug
Last Tuesday night was wet
and miserable and definitely not an evening
that would be conducive to playing good cultured
football. It is to the credit of both sides
that they were able to produce phases of good
play in spite of the conditions. Unfortunately
for the Johnnies they saved their best play
for the second period and by then the game
was beyond them.
Saul started
with more determination and with the wind and
rain at their backs. It took a while before
they were able to convert these advantages into
scores but when they did so they were able to
open up a match winning advantage. Saul opened
the scoring with a point and followed that up
with a goal from a “45”. The effort
wasn’t hit that well but maybe the conditions
helped as the ball skidded and bounced through
the crowd to the back of the net. A soft goal
to concede certainly and it made the homesters
task all the harder. They pulled a point back
but Saul followed with four unanswered scores
before Joe Milligan knocked over another point
after good work by Darren Savage. Another series
of four unanswered scores gave the visitors
a commanding 1-9 to 0-2 advantage.
After the turnaround St John’s had the
advantage of the wind but as the rain defied
the forecast and eased off the relative benefit
was reduced. Nonetheless St John’s were
clearly the better side in the second period
with Ryan Gordon, Darren Burns and Daniel McKay
(before injury caused his redeployment as goalkeeper)
forming a formidable half-back line. Joe Lennon
had a tremendous second half at full back and
was well capable of dealing with any danger
that got his far. He was ably assisted by Jamie
Artt. The defence was strengthened too as Neil
Magorrian dropped back. Joe Milligan also deserves
credit for dropping back to help out in addition
to his good work at the other end of the field.
St John’s dominance was rewarded by three
points back, two from the boot of Conor Morgan
and the third from Martin Keenan, after an assist
from Philip Brennan. St John’s were then
dealt a bitter blow as their good work was negated
when they conceded another soft goal.
Undeterred they went on the offensive again
with Hugh Flanagan, Chris McKay and David Milling
linking play well together. Harry McMullan,
relived of his goalkeeping duties, was another
who was instrumental in driving St John’s
forward. A series of wides, and a couple of
efforts that dropped into the Saul; keeper’s
hand were cruel reward for all the good build
up play – again the swirling wind and
wet conditions were no doubt instrumental in
this.
Saul were
still able to mount isolated sorties into the
St John’s half and notched up another
point. They could nearly have had a goal immediately
prior to that but for an excellent double save
by Daniel McKay. Joe Lennon, as so often, won
the ball and played it away from danger.
St John’s had a series of goal chances
too, and perhaps fell into the trap of trying
to made goal chances when points would do, but
weren’t able to make any of them count.
Conor Morgan pointed a free for the last score
of the game and it was to the Johnnies credit
that they were still taking the game to their
visitors at the final whistle. All in all, Saul
probable deserved the victory, but the scoreline
gave no reflection on the overall closeness
of the game.
St John’s: Harry McMullan; Jamie Artt,
Joe Lennon, Martin Keenan; Ryan Gordon, Daniel
McKay, Philip Brennan; David Milling, Conor
Morgan; Hugh Flanagan, Darren Savage, Chris
McKay; Joe Milligan, Darren Burns, Neil Magorrian.
Sub Kevin Keenan.
