ACFL Division 2
St Paul’s 2-8 Glenavy 0-16
Pics Bert Trowlen
St. Joseph’s Glenavy travelled to Shaw’s Road on Wednesday night and recorded a good two point win after an excellent hour of football. The visitors trailed by two at the halfway stage but a strong third quarter where they kicked six unanswered points swung it St. Joseph’s way.
It was the men from Chapel Hill who drew first blood with mid-fielder, Ciaran Loney kicking two fine points and Fiontan O’Boyle adding another to edge them three in front and at this early stage the visitors were moving the ball around with confidence.
It took the ‘Hoops’ a time to settle but Patrick Doyle got them on the scoreboard with a good point and when Liam McKenna punished a mistake in the visitors defence to fire to the net they were ahead for the first time.
That lead was short lived as the visitors replied through the impressive Fergal Henry to draw level but St. Paul’s were coming more and more into the game and Patrick Doyle and Liam McLarnon with a great long range effort saw them hit the front again.
Glenavy replied with Fergal Henry splitting the posts despite being under pressure and Fergus Cunningham marking his introduction with another as play swung from end to end. The visitors then looked to be in for a goal of their own but Jack McAufield made a great save to deny David Nelson.
St. Paul’s finished the half strongly and Mark Munce kicked a good point before Liam McKenna stroked a ‘45’ directly between the uprights to give the home side a two point lead as the half time whistle sounded.
Glenavy came out strongly at the start of the second half with Paddy Gallagher closing the gap to one with an early point before the impressive Ciaran Loney fired over the equaliser as his side dominated the early second half exchanges.
Gallagher moved forward from halfback again for his second point of the game to edge the visitors ahead and Gareth Henry pointed a free but Glenavy had their keeper Gareth Collins to thank as he dived to his left to deny St. Paul’s what looked like a certain goal.
Two more points from Fiontan O’Boyle, who was having a good game on the ’40’ and a massive long range score from Matthew Lawlor had the visitors four in front and looking comfortable before Conal Duffin finally opened St. Paul’s second half account with a point in the 12th minute.
This score seemed to lift the Shaw’s Road side and Gareth Collins again had to be at his best as he saved with an outstretched foot before Conall Finnegan added another point for the home side as they began to gain a bit of momentum again.
Liam McLarnon got in for a good goal as the clock ticked down to leave just one between the sides but the biggest cheer of the night came from the travelling faithful as Malachi Duffin hoisted another long range point over the black spot for the game’s final score to leave the Chapel Hill side victorious by two point.
St. Paul’s: 1 Jack McAufield, 2 Aodhan Kavanagh, 3 Damien Magee, 4 Michael Duffy, 5 don Burns, 6 Cormac O’Hanlon, 7 Padraic Lowe, 8 Conall Finnegan, 9 James Farrell, 10 Paul O’Hanlon, 11 Liam McLarnon, 12 Mark Munce, 13 Conal Duffin, 14 Liam McKenna, 15 Patrick Doyle
Glenavy: 1 Gareth Collins, 2 Darragh Doherty, 3 Liam Henry, 4 Michael Fox, 5 Padraig Fox, 6 Matthew Lawlor, 7 Paddy Gallagher, 8 Michael Johnston, 9 Ciaran Loney, 10 Ryan Phillips, 11 Fiontan O’Boyle, 12 Ruairi Forester, 13 Niall McCann, 14 David Nelson, 15 Fergal Henry
