ACFL Division One
St Galls 1-19 St John’s 1-11 at Milltown
St Galls bounced back from a heavy defeat to Creggan in midweek when they beat St John’s in this West Belfast derby game at the Bog Meadows on Sunday morning.
The Johnnies, who made the short journey down from Corrigan Park, started the game well when team captain Paddy McBride fired over the opening score,
It did not take long for the home side to find a reply, and they did so in emphatic fashion. A quick free from Barra McCaffrey found Padraig Óg Murray in space, and the full-forward showed great composure to lay the ball off to Niall Fallon. Fallon did not have a lot of room but the corner forward squeezed a low angled shot past Neeson in the Johnnies goal to give his side a lead they would not subsequently relinquish.
The visitors hit back with points from McBride and Odhran McAuley but points from McCaffrey and Quinn kept St Galls firmly in the driving seat. Padraig Óg Murray managed to turn over a great score alongside Martin Murray’s excellent strike from just inside the arc, which kept the Milltown men four points ahead.
Barra McCaffrey enjoyed a spell where he knocked over consecutive scores and at the other end, St John’s found it hard to make much progress, though Paddy McBride continued to find the target with his free taking. By half-time, the home side maintained a lead of three over their rivals, though St John’s crept closer to within a goal margin after McBride and Conall Quinn offered some solace with late strikes for the Corrigan Park side. Half time – St Gall’s 1-06 St John’s 0-06
After the break, the men from the Milltown began to kick on. They started strongly once again as Dubhaltach Wilson drove down the field and clipped the ball between the posts. Barra McCaffrey then added to his growing personal tally with two great efforts, increasing his team’s lead to six points.
St John’s found themselves under the cosh, and their deficit stretched to nine points when Danny Quinn’s two-point free was accompanied by another McCaffrey score. Eventually, St John’s found some rhythm and regained a grip on proceedings. Chris Kerr was called into action for St Galls, making a great stop to deny James Wilson, but Conall Quinn was on hand to dispatch the rebound into the net.
The introduction of Cormac Austin allowed the hosts to regain control, with the young star firing over a great point from play to help maintain a healthy advantage. McBride was once again the main man for the Corrigan Park side when he drove a free over the bar, and Conchuir Adams finally got his afternoon’s scoring underway with a great swinging effort from the right-hand side that flew over the black spot.
A superb two-pointer from Conor McEvoy kept the tie alive with five minutes remaining. With only five points separating the rivals, crunch time hinted that a miraculous comeback might be on the cards. Fortunately for the home side, the experience of Aodhan Gallagher and Mickey Pollock allowed them to halt the decline. Gallagher dominated the midfield, winning the majority of the high balls in that area, and a final free from Barra McCaffrey and a score from Pollock sealed the points.
Teams
St Galls: Chris Kerr; Christopher Hale, Gairech Adams, Ethan Walsh; Damien Ball, Dubhaltach Wilson 0-1, Conor Ryan; Manus McCrossan, Aodhan Gallagher; Martin Murray 0-1, Daniel Quinn 0-7 (0-4F, 1xTPF), Aaron Mackel; Barra McCaffrey 0-6 (0-1F), Padraig Óg Murray 0-2, Niall Fallon 1-0 Subs: Mickey Pollock 0-1, Cormac Austin 0-1
St John’s: Brian Neeson; Paddy McDiarmid, Oisin Jackson, Lorcan McCallin; Dannan McKeogh, Conor McEvoy 0-2 (1xTP), Odhran McAuley 0-2; Paddy McBride 0-5 (0-3F), Adrian Oliver; Ronan Donnelly, Conal McGlade, James Wilson; Odhran Quinn, Conall Quinn 1-1, Conchur Adams 0-1 Subs: Matthew Leydon, Shae McKee, Fintan McKinney
Referee – Ray Matthews
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