St. Johns 4.5 Portglenone 1.7
St. Johns got back to winning ways and re-ignited their league title ambitions with a workman like performance against Portglenone Casements in a sunny Corrigan Park on Sunday afternoon. They opened the scoring when Andy McGowan got the first of his 3 goals after bundling over from close range after good approach play from Simon McDonagh and Pearse Donnelly in the fifth minute. This was followed up with a fine score from wide on the right by the same player, who was causing the Portglenone full back line all sorts of trouble. Portglenone responded at the other end with a free from Paddy Kelly in the 12th minute before St. Johns came back with a Paddy McBride point and then two goals in the space of two minutes from Conor McEvoy and McGowan again, with a fine finish low into the bottom right hand corner. McKeever hit a great score from meters in response for the visitors before McBride got his second of the day to send the sides in at half time with St. Johns leading 3.3 to 0.2.
The second half resumed with St. Johns hitting two points from a McBride free in the second minute and one from play from county goalkeeper Padraig Nugent in the fourth. Portglenone responded with three Paddy Kelly frees to bring the score to 3.5 to 0.5 but another Kelly point and a goal from Niall Delargy gave Portglenone some hope as they had their best spell of the game with St. Johns struggling to break the line in the middle third of the park. However McGowan settled St. Johns nerve with a great finish, blasting to the roof of the net for his third goal of the day, after another typical lung bursting run from McBride who left the Portglenone defence in his wake. St. Johns saw out time and finished up with a comfortable 4.5 to 1.7 victory. Referee Karol Doherty had a fine game with letting things flow and both sides playing tough but fair football in the soaring heat.
The St. Johns full back line of Gribben, Bohill and McNulty all had fine games and were very secure all afternoon dealing with whatever the visitors threw at them. The return of Ross Hannigan to the half back line gave St. Johns a good attacking platform and his performance will do his confidence no harm as he tries to re-capture the form of recent years. McDonagh and McCaffrey both put in great shifts in midfield and covered a lot of ground. Whilst in the forward line the hard working McBride made his typical runs at the heart of the visitors defence, ably supported by Donnelly and McEvoy. Andy McGowan was the man of the match with 3-1 from play, and with two particular spectacular finishes for his 2nd and 3rd goals the highlights of the day. St. Johns next outing is on the 24th July when Cargin come to Corrigan for an 8pm throw in.
St. Johns Team: Eoin Rua Lambert, Paul Gribben, Ryan McNulty, Jack Bohill, Ciaran Garland, Padraig Nugent, Ross Hannigan, Ronan McCaffrey, Simon McDonagh, Conor McEvoy, Paddy McBride, Pearse Donnelly, Stephen Tierney, Andy McGowan, Ciaran Johnston. Subs: Michael Bradley for Ross Hannigan, Luke Peden for Ciaran Johnston, Óisin Donnelly for Eoin Rua Lambert.
Scorers: Andy McGowan: 3-1, Conor McEvoy 1-0, Paddy McBride 0-3, Padraig Nugent 0-1
Portglenone Scorers: Paddy Kelly 0-5, Niall Delargy 1-1, Niall McKeever 0-1.