Lámh Dhearg 1-08-1-14 St Johns
By Kevin Herron at Hannahstown
St John’s recovered from their opening day defeat at the hands of St Galls with a 1-08-1-14 win over Lámh Dhearg at a sunsoaked but breezy Hannahstown this afternoon.
The Whiterock Road men held a slender 1-03-0-05 advantage at the break – thanks to a superb goal from full-forward Matt Fitzpatrick but Kevin Quinn responded for the Lámhs early in the second period.
It was an even contest up until the final ten minutes when the Johnnies showed their lethal touch with Patrick McBride registering four of his sides’ final six points on the bounce.
There was much anticipation ahead of the meeting of last year’s county finalists but the game took a while to ignite.
Ryan Murray missed his sides opening day win against Portglenone but made an instant impact upon his return – popping the ball over the bar to give Lámh Dhearg the lead inside the first four minutes.
St John’s were dealt an early blow as referee Sean Laverty black carded Simon McDonagh for a heavy hit on Kevin Quinn.
Conal McGlade replaced McDonagh in the St John’s engine room but McGlade and his team mates were helpless as Ryan Murray doubled his and Lámh Dhearg’s account for the afternoon after Paddy Larkin claimed John Finucane’s kick out the ball was recycled into the corner-forwards path.
St John’s shooting was rather askew early on but just after the midway point of the half the Whiterock men hit back through a converted Patrick McBride free to get them up and running for the afternoon.
Conor McEvoy drew the sides level with just over ten minutes of the half remaining and another converted free from McBride made it three scores of the spin and put St John’s 0-03-0-02 ahead after 25 minutes.
Kevin Quinn levelled the sides for a second time after a superb solo burst – and Lámh Dhearg should have had the opening goal of the game when full-forward Terry McCrudden forced a turnover and the ball was thrust into the path of Darren Bellew at the back post, but the wing-half back shot wide of the target under pressure.
Eoghan McKeown edged Lámh Dhearg ahead for the second time – but inside the first minute of first-half injury-time Matthew Fitzpatrick forced his way through the Lámh Dhearg defence and rifled past John Finucane to give his side a 0-04-1-03 lead.
Ryan Murray successfully converted a free in the aftermath but Lámh Dhearg trailed by a point at the interval.
St John’s increased their lead within two minutes of the restart as Fitzpatrick conjured up his first point of the afternoon but Ryan Murray responded through a converted free.
Patrick McBride restored St John’s two-point lead with his first point from play of the afternoon however the lead changed hands for the second time on 37 minutes.
Ryan Murray’s precise through ball released midfielder Kevin Quinn who burst through one-on-one with St John’s goalkeeper Eoghan Lambert and squeezed the ball into the corner of the net to give Lámh Dhearg a 1-06-1-05 lead.
Fitzpatrick levelled the third time and brought his personal tally to 1-02 in the process but Ryan Murray kicked a second converted free of the half to keep the Lámhs noses in front midway through the second-half.
But St John’s refused to back down with substitute Joe Garland levelling before Michael Dudley drove forward from corner back and popped the ball over the bar to give St Johns the lead for third time – 1-07-1-08.
The sides were drawn level for the final time on 52 minutes as Terry McCrudden’s free from a difficult angle dropped short and Ryan Murray eventually shot over the bar for his sixth point of the contest.
From there on in St John’s were firmly in the driving seat and claimed the final six points of the game – substitute Pearse Donnelly made an immediate impact with two points in between Patrick McBride’s fourth of the afternoon.
In the final five minutes McBride exploited the gaping gaps in the Lámh Dhearg defence and tagged on a further three points to bring his afternoon tally to seven.
There was a little bit of needle between the sides which did momentarily boil over injury-time but referee Sean Laverty stamped his authority dishing out several yellow-cards one of which was thrust in the direction of Ciaran Johnston – already booked in the first-half and a red followed, but in end it had no impact as the Johnnies ran out deserved and convincing 1-08-1-14 winners.
Lámh Dhearg: J Finucane, P Larkin, A McAufield, M McGarry, D Bellew, M Herron, P Mervyn, P Fitzsimons, K Quinn (1-01), E McKeown (0-01), C Flaherty, R Diamond, R Murray (0-06, 0-03f), T McCrudden, G Slane. Subs: C Hannon for R Diamond (43 mins), C Nolan for M McGarry (47 mins).
St Johns: E Lambert, S Tierney, P Gribben, M Dudley (0-01), L Pedan, Ciaran Johnston, R Hannigan, S McDonagh, R McNulty, P McBride (0-07, 0-02f), Conor Johnston, C McEvoy (0-01), M Bradley, M Fitzpatrick (1-02), A McGowan. Subs: C McGlade for S McDonagh (8 mins), J Garland (0-01) for P Gribben (38 mins), P McCallion for C McEvoy (42 mins), P Donnelly (0-02) for A McGowan (47 mins), D Carson for R McNulty (60 mins).
Referee: Sean Laverty (Moneyglass)
Pics by John McIlwaine