JFC Group 1
St. Agnes 1-10 Laochra Loch Lao 0-7
St. Agnes moved top of group 1 of the Junior Football Championship following a good win over Laochra Loch Lao at St. Teresas on Friday night.
The Woodlands men began their campaign with an equally impressive win over Pearses two weeks ago and with the Antrim Road side getting their first win over O’Donnell’s at Woodlands, it is the ‘Aggies’ who top Group 1 after two rounds.
With the strong breeze at their backs St. Agnes made their intentions clear right from the start as they took a two point lead through Conall Turley and David Garahan after 8 minutes and when Ronan Carroll fired home from the penalty spot with 13 minutes gone they were in control.
Laochra had their fair share of possession but found it difficult to break through a well organised St. Agnes defence who denied them time and space with their high intensity play.
It would be 15 minutes before Connla O’Coinn would raise the Irish Language side’s first white flag from a free but it only served to bring another response from the men in Black as Ronan Carroll hit three excellent points (1f) at the other end.
The Aggies continued to call the shots as they moved the ball around with purpose and David Quigley punished a bad kick-out before Conall Turley fisted over the half’s final point to leave it 1-7 to 0-1 at the break.
Conall Turley extended that lead to 10 with a point after 30 seconds of the second half but slowly Laochra Loch Lao began to get a foothold in the game as O’Coinn pointed his second free before Kevin Devine brought their total of the evening to three with an excellent point from play with three minutes gone.
Devine added another superb effort as Laochra began to enjoy some success and then Diarmaid McPhillips struck a great free from 70 meters to close the gap to six in the 9th minute and suddenly we appeared to have a game on our hands.
St. Agnes rang the changes at this stage as they introduced Brendan Grieve and Paul McClenaghan and it seemed to settle them with Laochra receiving a setback when they lost a player to a straight Red after 14 minutes.
Conall Turley replied from a pointed free, St. Agnes first score for 17 minutes with the excellent Devine and Conor McGuckin responding for the Irish Language side to leave five in it with ten minutes remaining.
Another substitution from the Aggies bench had an almost immediate effect as Shay Madden raced through on goal but had his shot blocked on the line with the Laochra goal surviving a hectic scramble on the follow up.
Madden made amends with his side’s final point with two minutes remaining with Laochra pushing hard for the goal that might ignite their challenge but they had to settle for a late consolation point from Oisin Crawford.
With Pearses recording a good win over O’Donnell’s at Woodlands, St. Agnes now top the group with four points from two starts while Pearses join O’Donnell’s on two and Laochra Loch Lao remain pointless after two rounds of games.
St. Agnes are at home to O’Donnell’s in their final group game on Friday the 30th August while Laochra Loch Lao entertain Pearses on the same night at Colaiste Feirste.
St. Agnes: 1 Colum Carroll, 2 Patrick Carroll, 3 Ryan Reilly, 4 Killian McCormick, 5 David Quigley, 6 Neill Gillespie, 7 Ronan Gilligan, 8 Ronan Carroll. 9 James Halleron, 10 Cormac Flannery, 11 David McGaharan, 12 James Campbell, 13 Cormac McBride, 14 Conall Turley, 15 Conor Gregory.
Subs: Brendan Grieve, Paul McClenaghan, Dan Turley, Shay Madden, Briondan McLarnon.
Laochra Loch Lao: 16 Sean O’hHeachain, 29 Deglan MacCoimb, 3 Eamann O’Coinn, 4 Conor McCaffery, 5 Cathal O’Ceallaigh, 6 Connla O’Coinn, 7 Tiarnan MacSiacais, 8 Pearse McAuley, 9 Diarmaid McPhillips, 10 Conor McGuckin, 11 Nial McAreavey, 12 Rian McShane, 13 Oisin Crawford, 24 Padraig Fryers, 15 Kevin Devine.
Subs: 22 Ciaran O’Cuanlaugh,
Referee: Chris Brown (St. Paul’s)
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