Reserve Football Cup
St. Mary’s Aghagallon 2-9 Gort na Mona 2-6
St Mary’s ended their run in the Reserve Cup with a win over Gort na Móna at Páirc na nGael on Friday evening.
Shane Russell set the hosts on their way with a point and seconds later his younger brother Liam did better when he rippled the net. Gort na Móna went a man down to a black card to Joe Mc Donagh and despite Aghagallon having a lot of possession they did not add to their tally until Niall McShane pointed just before the water break.
The resumption after water break saw Gort return to fifteen players and they played their way back into the game with Joe Mc Donagh converting a free they then a goal when a mix up in the home defence saw the ball fall to Kevan Beck. He was immediately crowded and knowing he would struggle to lift the ball instead cleverly pulled the ball back “soccer style” to create space before sliding the ball into the Aghagallon goal. Padraig Mulvenna added a point to bring the sides level.
The opening twenty minuteswere played in heavy rain which led to difficult conditions underfoot and both sides struggled with their handling. Adam Shanks restored the lead for St Mary’s and Shane Russell added another after a long run to get himself onto his left foot and score from distance. When Michael Brady was fouled, Padraig Mulvenna took a quick free and found Michael Savage who put the ball over the bar when the goal was at his mercy. Aidan Mulholland hit a long range shot and Jude Rielly did well to push it over the bar.
Half Time
St Mary’s 1:05
Gort na Mona 1:03
St Mary’s got a great start to the second half, winning possession at the throw in they passed their way into a shooting position and Niall Mc Shane’s powerful effort across goal looked to be going wide but full forward Philip Tallon raced in at the back post to steer the ball into the net. Tallon and Benji Hannon both got a point a piece despite being well closed down by the Gort na Mona defence.
Joe Mc Donagh got two points, one from a free and the second from a forty-five off the ground straight over the black spot and Kieran Donnelly forced a good save from Jamie Lamont.
The final quarter of the game resumed with a free to Gort na Móna and taking their positions quicker than the home team they took the free quickly and worked the ball into the unguarded net as the men in green raced to prevent it. To be fair even the Gort na Móna players knew that referee hadn’t signalled the restart and no one was surprised when the goal was chalked out.
Kieran Hamill and Jamie Lamont added points for Aghagallon but it was set up for a nervy finish when Joe Mc Donagh reacted to fist the ball into the net. The Belfast men finished stongly but couldn’t add to their score
St Mary’s: J Lamont (0:01), D Mc Shane, R Mulholland, A Doherty, S Branagan, A Mulholland (0:01), K Hamill (0:01) N Rogers, N Mc Shane (0:01), A Shanks (0:01), L Russell (1:0),
B Hannon (0:01), C Henry, P Tallon (1:01) S Russell (0:02)
Subs
C Mc Grath for S Branagan, J Lavelle for C Henry
Gort na Mona: J Rielly, C Healey, C Devlin, O Cordner, P Canan, M Savage (0:01), D Cahill, P Mulvenna (0:01), B Chambers, L Dixon, A Dempster, K Beck (1:00), M Brady,
J Mc Donagh (1:03 2f, 1 45), K Donnelly (0:01)
Subs
N Healy for B Chambers