Laverty Cup Final
Kickham’s Creggan 3-5 St. Mary’s Aghagallon 2-7
A goal from the penalty spot by flying centre-half-forward, Conor Johnston in the 22nd minute of the second half proved the decisive score in this excellent Laverty Cup final between Kickham’s Creggan and St. Mary’s Aghagallon at Dunsilly on Friday night.
In perfect conditions these two well matched sides went at it with everything they had right from the start with both sides enjoying periods of ascendancy before Johnston’s converted spot kick put Creggan three in front but they were forced to withstand a sustained late rally from St. Mary’s.
In a cagey opening quarter it was Aaron Kerr who put the Lough Shore side ahead from a free in the second minute with Creggan replying with a great long range point from Liam McLernon with three minutes on the clock.
Michael Grogan eased Aghagallon in front again but it would be a further eight minutes before Conor Johnston soloed through for the equaliser as both sides played possession football.
Johnston looked the most likely candidate to open up a strong Aghagallon defence and he produced another pace laden run before setting up Tristan McCann who fired home the game’s opening goal at the end of the first quarter.
Aghagallon recovered from the setback and produced a fine build-up of their own with Aidan Brady applying the finish as he fired past Paul McNally to level the contest with 18 minutes on the clock.
McNally then produced a good save to deny Owen Mallon after hitting a poor kick-out but the Creggan net minder got down bravely to deny Mallon and atone for his error.
It was end to end stuff with Shea McCann for Creggan and Aaron Kerr for St. Mary’s exchanging further points before Conor Johnston got in behind the Aghagallon defence to collect and fire to the net to move the Kickham’s four in front.
Aghagallon would reply from a similar scenario when Sean Gowdy, wearing 5 but playing up front, took an over the top pass and scrambled the ball over the line despite the best efforts of the opposing defence.
It was Aghagallon who made the better start to the second half with Gowdy firing over the equaliser after only 30 second and Aaron Kerr put them ahead when he pointed a free in the 3d minute.
Creggan tried to respond but Jamie Hatchell in the St. Mary’s goals pulled off a good save to deny Shea McCann and Kerr pointed a free at the other end to move his side two in front after 8 minutes.
McCann made amends for his earlier miss with a good point for the Kickham’s to close the gap to the minimum again and the Staffordstown Road side were starting to get on top but were guilty of a couple of bad wides.
They continued to press however and Shea McCann was dragged down on route to goal with Conor Johnston stepping up to confidently fire the resulting penalty out of reach of Hatchell to move his side two in front with 8 minutes of normal time remaining.
The same player struck an excellent point to increase that lead to three in the 28th minute but St. Mary’s staged a strong finish with substitute Eran Loughran pointing at the other end as the game edged into injury time.
Aghagallon threw everything at the opposition during the closing stages and Aaron Kerr closed the gap to the minimum but that was as close as they got with Martin Quinn’s full time whistle bring scenes of celebration from an elated Creggan side.
Kickham’s Creggan: 1 Paul McNally, 2 Darach McCann, 3 Eoin McLernon, 4 Conor Downey, 5 Fintan Kelly, 6 Liam McLernon, 7 Cillian McEldowney, 8 Fintan Close, 9 Aiodan McIlwee, 10 Ronan McGuckian, 11 Conor Johnston, 12 Tristan McCann, 13 Callum McTeague, 14 Shea McCann, 15 Anton Martin,
Subs: Sean Daly for McTeague, Shea Devlin for Ronan McGuckian
St. Mary’s Aghagallon: 1 Jamie Hatchell, 3 Eoin McGennis, 4 Ronan O’Connor, 5 Sean Gowdy, 6 Aidan Brady, 7 Owen Mallon, 8 Christopher Hannon, 9 Matthew Braham, 10 Aaron Kerr, 11 Darragh Smyth, 12 Daniel McIlmoyle, 13 Cormac Mulholland, 14 Sean McCavigan, 15 Darragh Keightley, 24 Michael Grogan. Subs: Eran Loughran, Ben Dervan, Ryan Nelson
Referee: Martin Quinn (St. Enda’s)
