South Antrim, Martin Shield Final
John Mitchells 2-7-1-6 East Belfast II
Kevin Herron reports from Sally Gardens
JOHN MITCHELL’S claimed the South Antrim, Martin Shield after a 2-7-1-6 win over East Belfast II at Sally Gardens on Thursday evening.
It took 10-minutes for the opening score to arrive, not for the want of trying though as both sides saw plenty of possession without registering.
East Belfast were first off the mark with Mark Rooney converting a free, and he doubled his tally from a close range free 60-seconds later.
They extended their lead after a flowing move through the hands that resulted in James Holloway swinging a shot over and with just over a quarter of an hour played Harry O’Donnell squeezed an angled shot inside the near post to make it 0-4-0-0.
Mitchell’s almost had the game’s opening goal when Philip Moore claimed the mark and released David Scallon whose dipping shot crashed off the post and was cleared to safety.
Moore kicked a high shot between the posts to get his side up and running in the 21st minute with Rooney replying from a free to restore the four-point advantage.
A trip on Conor McIlhatton allowed him the opportunity to close the gap with a close-range free and he popped it over.
The opening goal of the game arrived a minute shy of the break, Damien Lowry dropped a high ball into the square and Rory Groom did enough to to spook Cillian Monan in the East Belfast goal and palmed the ball to the net to make it 1-2-0-5.
The hosts added a further point before the break through Moore as they held a slender lead at the midway point.
Mitchell’s extended their lead after Oran Bradley picked out David Scallon for his second score of the evening.
They then took a firm grip on proceedings when Rory Groom scored his second goal of the night.
Despite Monan making a terrific save to keep out his initial close range effort, Groom threw himself at the loose ball and bundled it over the line to make it 2-4-0-5.
East Belfast were without a score for almost 25-minutes either side of the break, but with ten minutes remaining they found a goal.
Mark Rooney lined up a two-pointed attempt that dropped short and Niall Kennedy was able to stab the ball home from close range and make it 2-4-1-5.
The hosts replied with points from Scallon and a converted Philip Moore free and after Eamon Mahon held onto a dipping two-pointed shot and popped the ball to James Brown in close proximity- Mitchell’s turned defence to attack with Joseph McQuillan fisting the ball over.
Luke Walsh fisted over at the other end but East Belfast were unable to make any further inroads and Mitchell’s held out for victory.
