Gaelfast Year 10 Hurling Cup
St Mary’s v St Louis, Ballymena.
By Gaelfast reporter
Referee for the night was Kevin Parke who got the St Mary’s v St Louis Year 10 final underway beneath the Dunsilly floodlights.
The weather was dry but the pitch was a bit damp, soft and difficult to jab or roll lift at times. After a tentative start and both teams having a share of the ball and a few point scoring chances it was a long ball into the St Louis full forward Joe Casey who managed to nip in behind St Mary’s full back Matthew O’Neill and bury the ball in the net giving St Mary’s shot stopper Dylan Hand-McCallin no chance of saving it.
This woke St Mary’s who then created several scoring opportunities through Padraig Kelly, however the solid defence of St Louis and in particular Dylan McMullan thwarted several of these which were destined for goals had they not. St Mary’s chipped away and got a few points back before getting their own ‘Major’ with a well worked goal towards the end of the first half. Cody McGarry had dropped back into a sweeper role and was picking up a lot of ball for the Ballymena side. This made it very hard for both sides to penetrate the defences in the first half.
The teams went in at half time with nothing between them and went straight back at it in the second half. St Mary’s started the stronger and had several scoring opportunities early in the half. Harry McKay thwarted a couple of attempts on his goal from the Belfast side before St Mary’s talisman Kelly made no mistake after jinking through the St Louis defence to rifle the ball to the St Louis net.
The Belfast side had stretched their lead coming into the final quarter of the game but St Louis were far from finished yet. Dominating the final few minutes territory wise, St Louis were eventually rewarded with a goal from a rocket of a placed ball.
But, similarly to the Shield final it was a case of too little, too late as Kevin Parke brought proceedings to a close just after the St Louis goal. Team Captain Padraig Kelly accepted the cup on behalf of St Mary’s and thanked St Louis for a great game and wished them well in the upcoming Gallagher cup where the teams may meet again. After thanking Antrim GAA for the use of Dunsilly and Kevin Park for officiating the game he joined his teammates for the celebrations.
Massive credit to both teams for such a fine display of Hurling so early in the year. It was bitterly cold but the only ones who seemed to notice were the spectators as the players gave us a fantastic performance.
Credit also to teachers who look after all the teams. The cup final teams were managed by Paddy Cunningham, Sean Cassidy and Conor Gillan among others helping – apologies for not naming you all. It is just worth noting the experience, calibre and passion of all of our coaches who we appreciate greatly. We thank you all for your support.
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