St Johns 3-12 Glenravel 1-10
A three goal blitz over a ten minute period either side of half time was the sucker punch that St Johns delivered to leave their opponents on the ropes for the remainder of the game and secure all three points for the Corrigan Park side. With county hurling and football in action this weekend both teams were forced to field without a few marquee players but the more seasoned Division 1 campaigners seemed to manage the game better with the resources to hand. Glenravel did lead at various stages in the first half and had Eamon Fyfe managed to slot home a goal when one on one with St John’s keeper Eoghan Rua Lambert half way through the first half, things would have looked a lot brighter for the visitors. In fairness to Lambert he brought off a fine save to deny Fyfe.
Eamon Fyfe opened the scoring on two minutes with an outrageous over the head shot form fully forty yards to split the posts but Conal McGlade equalised shortly after from a placed ball. Niall Hynds put Glenravel back in front only to be levelled again as Conchur Adams pointed again from a free. Eamon Fyfe nudged Glenravel ahead again but they were pegged back once more as Domhnall Nuggent pointed from placed ball so with ten minutes gone it was honours even on three points apiece. The next ten minutes were totally dominated by Glenravel and they will look back on that period of dominance as a real chance missed to stamp their authority on the game. Three consecutive wides were followed by that save mentioned earlier before David Higgins and Sean McKay steadied the ship to leave Glenravel ahead 0-05 to 0-03. But those missed chances proved costly as St John’s goaled twice in the 21st (Conall Quinn) and 28th (Conor McEvoy) minutes and then added two more points from Nuggent and Adams to go into a six point lead. Eamon Fyfe tapped over a free on the stroke of half time to leave five between them at the break, St John’s ahead 2-05 to 0-06.
Glenravel would have been disappointed at going in behind given their periods of dominance but that disappointed was compounded two minutes after the restart when Darragh McCallin goaled and the uphill struggle proved too difficult for the Glensmen to manage. Sean McKay and Eamon Fyfe did get them back into the game but over the following fifteen minutes the home side dominated totally and their six points was only challenged by a single point from the visitors and the game was effectively over as a contest with ten minutes remaining. Niall Hynds did manage a point from close range after a goal mouth scramble and Eamon Fyfe burst through the St Johns defence as we entered added time. This time he left the keeper no chance as his effort almost lifted the net off its fixings but that was really only consolation as the Belfast men ran out winners 3-12 to 1-10.
Both sides experienced periods of dominance in this match but the more experienced Division 1 outfit made better use of their dominance and ended up deserved winners.
