McLarnon Cup
St. Mary’s CBGS 0-11 Aquinas 2-9
Two goals early in the second half turned this McLarnon Cup encounter firmly in the direction of Aquinas Grammar as they overcame the challenge of St. Mary’s CBGS at Cherryvale on Friday.
The Glen Road seat of learning had looked the more accomplished side during the opening half and with their defence dealing with everything that came their way, they held a 0-9 to 0-5 half time lead and were good value for it.
Jack Watson shot Aquinas into an early lead with a point after 15 seconds but St. Mary’s replied through Padraig Murphy, Corey Walsh and Ethan Walsh to lead by two after 5 minutes.
James McConville pointed at the other end to close the gap to the minimum but it brought another response from the Glen Road side with Corey Walsh Oisin O’Boyle and Padraig Murphy hitting three on the bounce to move them four ahead at the end of the opening quarter.
JJ Higgins punished a bad kick-out to return the ball between the uprights and Oisin O’Hare added another but the momentum was still very much with St. Mary’s and Sean Og McLaren replied with two at the other end.
The sides exchanged points in the lead up to half time with O’Hare for Aquinas and Odhran McAuley for their opponents on target to leave the half time score 0-9 to 0-5 in favour of St. Mary’s.
At this stage of the game it was the Glen Road side who looked in control as their well organised defence were dealing adequately with everything Aquinas had thrown their way but the game would take a dramatic turn at the start of the second half.
Half Time: St. Mary’s 0-9 Aquinas 0-5
Aquinas came storming out of the start blocks as the second half got underway but were guilty of a bad miss in their first attack before Jacko Watson hammered home the game’s opening goal in the second minute.
The momentum was very much with the Ravenhill Road side and St. Mary’s Fiachra McDonald pulled off a great block to deny Higgins but it only delayed the inevitable as Jack McConville found the net for the second time with only four minutes on the clock.
St. Mary’s looked shell shocked but Padraig Murphy opened their second half account with a point which was quickly cancelled out as Jack McConville pointed a free in the 6th minute.
J J Higgins added a point and as things began to get a bit contentious, the Glen Road side lost a player to a second Yellow card.
The excellent Padraig Murphy pulled one back for St. Mary’s with a point in the 17th minute but it would be their last score of the evening as Aquinas finished strongly to take the points.
Substitute Sean Doyle got his name on the Aquinas score card and Padraig O’Hare concluded the scoring with a great long range point with things threatening to boil over at the final whistle before sanity was restored.
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