ACFL Division One
St John’s 3-13
O’Donovan Rossa 1-9
It’s taken a while but St. John’s finally grabbed their first win of the season when they proved too good for old adversaries, Rossa at Corrigan Park on Wednesday night.
The Corrigan Park side dictated matters from throw in and raced into an early lead as their visitors struggled from early in the contest and after 15 minutes the Johnnies had built up a substantial lead.
On a night of mixed emotions, Patrick McBride led the way with five points, putting in a superb shift despite the passing of his father the previous day.
From their first attack, Sean Wilson found Conhuir Adams who fired over to give St. John’s the lead.
A good start became even better as Conor McEvoy set up Conall McGlade who palmed the ball to the net to move the hosts four ahead.
Goal number two arrived just five minutes later and again, the direct approach worked as Stephen Tierney went long from a free to Enda McGurk who found Andy McGowan inside to steady and thump home.
It was all St John’s and after Oisin McAuley kicked a point, Adams thumped a super score with the outside of his boot but his appeal for a 2 pointer was waved aside.
It didn’t matter as St. John’s continued to dominate against a Rossa side who were struggling to put a move together and a Patrick McBride free pushed them 2-4 to 0-0 ahead after 15 minutes.
The Shaw’s Road side looked in serious trouble but grabbed a lifeline as Eoin Fleming’s broke a challenge with his shot rebounding of the crossbar but the ball rebounded into his arms and he opted to pop inside to Diarmaid Rogan to steady and hit the net.
Rossa failed to build on this as the Johnnies finished the half well as Adams kicked a free and after Enda McGurk landed a point, Adams curled over his fourth of the half with the left boot to put his team into a 2-7 to 1-0 lead at the short whistle.
The visitors needed a good start to the second period and they got it as Eoghan McMenamin kicked an early score and Conall McDonald added another from a free before Richie Gowdy thumped over a two and suddenly the visitors appeared to have come to life.
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McBride hit back with a trademark point to the right of the posts before
Eoin Fleming replied for the visitors, but points from Sean Wilson and a McGlade free saw the Johnnies move 2-10 to 1-5 ahead as the game entered final quarter.
Another McBride point mopved the Whiterock side 10 ahead for the second time in the game and when the same player a superb 2pointer they were back in total control.
It was a long way back for Rossa, but Diarmaid Rogan wasn’t far away from grabbing a second goal as a shot went across the face of goal and just to the wrong side of the posts.
They did pull a couple of scores back from a McDonald free and then goalkeeper Niall Crossan joined the attack to thump over.
McDonald kicked a two-point free as the game moved into injury time to reduce the gap to six, but St John’s finished on top as Aaron Bradley placed Oisin McAuley to fire high to the net and perhaps fittingly, McBride had the final say to put a gloss on the victory.
ST John’s: M Leyden; R Hannigan, P Nugent, L Peden; C McEvoy, S Tierney, O Jackson; E McGurk (0-1), R McNulty; S Wilson (0-1), P McBride (0-5, 1xtp, 1f), O McAuley (1-1); C McGlade (1-1, 0-1f), A McGowan (1-0), C Adams (0-4, 1f).
Subs: J Bohill for P Nugent (9), D Bracknell for O Jackson (HT), R Donnelly for S Tierney (39), A Bradley for A McGowan (52), A Oliver for S Wilson (60+2).
Rossa: N Crossan (0-1); C Orchin, G McGrath, F McDonald; A Devlin, R Gowdy (0-2, 1xtp), P Moyes; O McVicker, E Fleming (0-1); C Walsh, E McMenamin (0-1), C McDonald (0-4, 1x2pf, 2f); M McEnhill, T Morgan, D Rogan (1-0).
Subs: D Grego for P Moyes (10), M McKiernan for T Morgan (HT), S McDonald for F McDonald (34), C O’Neill for A Devlin (50), R McDonagh for M McEnhill (54).