GYMCO JFC Group 2
St. Mary’s Rasharkin 2-22 St. Malachy’s 0-11
Report: Charlie Cowan
Photographs: Mark Hasson
Recent division 3 league winners, St. Mary’s Rasharkin got their championship campaign under way with a perfect start at dry and sunny Dreen last night.
Straight from the throw in the away team had the first opportunity with midfielder Ciaran Vernon powering his way through but shot wide, but it didn’t take long for Rasharkin to find their grip on the match,
With St Malachy’s dropping a man back in defence the home side dominated possession in the opening minutes and didn’t take long to show their intent and after a neat passage of play Shane Hasson opened the scoring in the third minute with a point and this was to set the scene for the first quarter.
Rasharkin dominated the kick outs forcing the away team to work hard to hold Rasharkin at bay, with the home side keeping possession and taking their chances when they arrived. Eamon McNeill with a close range score followed up with several more Rasharkin attacks in quick succession resulting in another well worked score by Seamus Ellis.
An Andrew Hasson shot struck the crossbar from long range dropping into the danger zone with the St Malachy’s keeper forced into a close range save from the evergreen Gerard O’Hagan with the resulting 45 going wide.
St Malachy’s defence were working hard to keep the scores down but the attacks from the home side kept coming with Rasharkin keeping possession for large spells and another well worked score from Fearghal Kennedy from a tight angle in the 9th minute put the home side 4 ahead.
Rasharkin were starting to dominate the midfield with kick-outs being won by both Ruairi, Tiernan O’Boyle and Jack Quinn.
St Malachy’s then tried the short kick-out but Eamon McNeill was on hand to step in and a good exchange with Tiernan O’Boyle and Seamus Ellis allowed Ellis to convert his second score.
Another quick attack from Rasharkin resulted in another point attempt hitting the crossbar with the keeper pushing to safety for another 45.
This time Andrew ‘Maxwell’ Hasson converted in the 12th minute with Rasharkin continuing to press forward at every opportunity.
The second quarter continued in similar fashion to the first with Tiernan O’Boyle winning a free and Shane Hasson converting. The St Malachy’s defence continue to work hard to stem the Rasharkin tide but Ruairi O’Boyle sent over a long range effort from near the sideline.
On the 20th minute Rasharkin got the breakthrough their pressure deserved with a good build up and Donagh Quigg broke through to score the game’s opening goal, putting the home team in command.
The visitors continued to battle hard and began to enjoy some success and got forward to get their first score of the game on 21 minutes with a cool finish from their full forward Karl McKavana. This score seemed to spur them on and they were starting to create chances.
They added another score before half time, this time from Patrick Turley, but not before Rasharkin had picked up another 2 scores from Seamus Ellis and Gerard O’Hagan and Rasharkin looked in a comfortable position at half time when they led 1-11 to 0-6.
The second half started in a similar theme to the first with Andrew Hasson setting up Shane Hasson for an early score and that was quickly followed by a goal with Eamon McNeill placing Tiernan O’Boyle to slot home with a good finish.
St Malachy’s then responded from a Patrick Turley free but Rasharkin replied with points from Eamon McNeill and Seamus Ellis slotting over from long range and the Mals replying from another free pointed by Patrick Turley.
The game had opened up at this stage as play swung from end to end with both teams playing good attacking football but Rasharkin retained the majority of possession and were finding their scores that bit easier to come by.
Conor McFerran was introduced after 10 minutes and quickly picked up a score, stretching Rasharkin’s lead once again. St. Mary’s missed several chances before Gerard O’Hagan grabbed a point followed by another long-range effort from Shane Hasson, with the home side combating the packed defence by shooting from range with success.
Just before the water break Patrick Turley pulled another one back with a close range free leaving the score 2-17 to 0-5 to the home team.
After the water break the game remained open with St Malachy’s getting some reward for their persistence, scoring 3 quick points from frees by the excellent Patrick Turley but the home side kept up their relentless pressure and replied with 3 of their own with another 2 long range points from Tiernan O’Boyle and Fergus Quigg and a well worked score from Conor McFerran from tight in the corner.
In the closing stages both teams added a couple more points with St Malachy’s working good scores from Gerard McGleenan and Anthony Dobbin with Tiernan O’Boyle and Andrew Hasson replying for the Dreen men to sign off on a good display.
The game finished 2-22 to 0-11 in what was a strong display from the home team, St Malachy’s worked hard to keep Rasharkin at bay but the attacking movement and long-range shooting from the home team proved too much.
There were good performances all round in the Rasharkin team but particularly from Fearghal Kennedy, Seamus Ellis, Tiernan O’Boyle and Ruairi O’Boyle. St Malachy’s Midfielder Stephen Carson and centre back Anthony Dobbin were their best on the day.
A strong performance from Rasharkin on the day with still plenty to build on but they look capable of providing a serious challenge in this year’s Junior championship.
Rasharkin Team:
Ryan Doherty; Pearce Kelly, Emmett McFerran, Conor Doherty; Colm Kennedy, Donagh Quigg, Fearghal Kennedy (0-01); Jack Quinn, Ruairi O’Boyle (0-01); Andrew Hasson (0-03), Tiernan O’Boyle (1-03), Seamus Ellis (0-04); Shane Hasson (0-03), Eamonn McNeill (0-02), Gerard O’Hagan (0-02).
Subs:
Conor McFerran (0-02) for Eamon McNeill
Darach Duffin for Conor Doherty
Kealan Darragh for Emmett McFerran
Fergus Quigg (0-01) for Fearghal Kennedy
Liam Quigg for Shane Hasson
St Malachys Team:
Thomas Rice; Caoimhin Corr, Ciaran Galway, Sean O’Neill; Daniel Quinn, Anthony Dobbin (0-01), Mark Connolly; Ciaran Vernon, Stephen Carson; Gerard McGlennan (0-01), Anton McGreevy, Niall Kennedy; Patrick Turley (0-08), Karl McKavana (0-01), Colin Connolly.
Subs:
Brendan McGettigan for Anton McGreevy
Sean Martin Miller for Colin Connolly
Ciaran Drain for Stephen Carson
Chris McNeela for Karl McKavana
Referee: Gerard Dougan (Creggan)
