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St.
Louis Advance To Ulster Semis - 16/05/03
B.T. Ulster Colleges Gaelic Football
St. Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel 1-12
St. Mary's CBS, Belfast 0-02
By Steven McVeigh, St Louis Kilkeel
St. Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel have
progressed to the semi-final of the BT Ulster Colleges Treanor
Cup with relative ease, at the expense of St. Mary's CBS,
Belfast. The Belfast school were pre-match favourites, being
a school with a proud tradition in Ulster 'A' Colleges football
and being able to pick from a selection of students equal
to four times as many as St. Louis. However, it was the
Kilkeel school who imposed their play on this quarter-final
tie right from the start.
Played in wet conditions on an excellent
surface at Ballykinlar, St. Louis played a style of football,
which their opponents could not match. Kilkeel dominated
the mid-field area with Gerard McCartan and Hugh Magee forming
a formidable partnership. St. Mary's were having great problems
getting the ball out of the defence as Martin Clarke, Luke
Toner and Peter Fiztpatrick, ran amok. An early point from
Clarke was followed up with one from Fitzpatrick, before
full-forward Patrick Bourke drove home a powerful shot into
the Belfast goal to give St. Louis a lead they would never
relinquish.
To their credit, St.Mary's valiantly tried
to counter-attack, but the presence of Eamon Kelly, Fergal
Doyle and John Fitzpatrick ensured that no cheap scores
would be given away. A pointed free from Martin Clarke,
were quickly added to with points from Luke Toner, Christopher
Morgan and James Clerkin. St. Mary's did breach the Kilkeel
defence on a few occasions, but they found Colm Curran in
the St. Louis goals on good form. For their efforts they
did score a point, but they would rue at least four missed
opportunities to register more scores on the board. St.
Louis, however, were not as accurate as the score would
suggest. Several attacks ended in wides, including two score-able
frees. Points from Peter Fitzpatrick, Hugh Magee and Martin
Clarke, saw St. Louis end the half in a very commanding
position, with the score-line reading St. Louis 1-10, St.
Mary's 0-01.
The second-half saw the game take a strange
turn as Kilkeel squandered chance after chance. In the first
ten minutes of the second-half St. Louis registered seven
wides. St. Mary's managed to mount further counter attacks
and drew save out of Colm Curran, but they too were guilty
of squandering chances of points. St. Louis gradually reasserted
their dominance of play in most areas of the field. St.
Louis were probably guilty of going for goals on too many
occasions, only to find their efforts thwarted by some excellent
goal-keeping and a few goalmouth puddles.
The outcome of the game was never really
in doubt and as Coach Steven McVeigh introduced John Magee,
Liam Harper and Allen Murney, St. Louis managed to create
a few more scoring opportunities which resulted in points
for Patrick Bourke and Martin Clarke. As the game drew to
a close, it must be stated that both teams played this Ulster
quarter-final in a very sportsmanlike fashion, with St.
Louis, Kilkeel as humble in victory as St. Mary's, Belfast,
were gallant in defeat.
St. Louis now go on to meet St. Patrick's
Keady, in the semi-final, to be played in a Newry venue
mid to late this week. The Kilkeel boys have shown great
skill and determination to get to this stage, but will surely
have to improve their accuracy in front of the goals if
they are to progress to the final.
St. Louis Team;
Colm Curran (Bryansford), Luke Byrne (Bryansford), John
Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin), Kevin Quinn (Atticall), Damien
Sherry (An Riocht), Eamon Kelly (Rostrevor), Fergal Doyle
(An Riocht), Gerard McCartan (Rostrevor), Hugh Magee (Longstone)
0-1, Martin Clarke (An Riocht) 0-5, Luke Toner (Castlewellan)
0-1, Peter Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin) 0-2, Christopher Morgan
(Atticall) 0-1, Patrick Bourke (Rostervor) 1-1, James Clerkin
(Rostrevor) 0-1.
Subs;
Liam Harper (An Riocht), Ryan O'Hare (Ballymartin),
John Magee (Atticall), Michael Hardy (An Riocht), Eddie
McVeigh (An Riocht), Ryan Sloan (Atticall), Allen Murney
(An Riocht) Andrew Sloan (Atticall), John Joe McClorey (Rostrevor).
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