OB Construction Antrim IFC Group 2
St Pat’s Lisburn 3-8-2-14 Glenavy
Kevin Herron reports from Kirkwoods Park
THREE goals in arrears at the interval (3-5-0-5), Glenavy produced a stunning turn around after the break to defeat St. Pat’s Lisburn 2-14-3-8 in their Group 2 opener at Kirkwoods Park on Sunday evening.
Despite Glenavy having the majority of possession in the early stages they found themselves a goal behind inside of four minutes. Owen Drayne won the ball close to the sideline for the hosts and offloaded to Josh McMullan- who surged towards the square and passed to Oisin Gorman to blast past Matthew Lawlor.
Glenavy responded with three successive scores to restore parity by the 12th minute. Pearse O’Neill switched to Ciaran Loney to swing over his side’s opening score.
The next two came from the placed ball with James Monaghan and Leon Lavery firing over from either side of the pitch. Midway through the half a Sean Burns point edged St Pat’s back ahead and less than 60-seconds later the hosts had their second goal through Gorman.
The half forward raced towards goal and his shot took a ricochet and bobbled to the corner to make it 2-1-0-3. The lead was extended when Brendan McGarr controlled a hooked pass from the other side of the arc and popped over.
Without a score since Leon Lavery’s 12th minute free, Glenavy finally responded when Ciaran Loney shot over his second point of the half.
A breach allowed Jude Rafferty to convert a close range free and Owen Drayne opened his account for the evening after a nice exchange in the build-up from Josh McMullan and Jude Rafferty.
St Pat’s increased their lead with their third goal of the half in the 27th minute. Referee Ritchie Leahy allowed Owen Drayne an advantage after he was fouled, Draynes shot came back off the large post and landed perfectly for Conor Doran to tuck home and make it 3-4-0-4.
The sides traded scores before the break with Adam Patterson and Pearse O’Neill adding points in injury time as the three goals were the difference at the interval.
Glenavy started the second period brightly with James Monaghan pointing from a surging Ruairi Forester run and Monaghan then kicked a close range free.
Fionntan O’Boyle shot inches past the post following a quick move through the hands involving Monaghan and Michael Morgan, but Monaghan added his third point of the half as their momentum gathered pace.
The visitors found the net for the first time in the 42nd minute. Paddy Fox played a pass into Ciaran Loney and he in turn slipped a short pass to Darragh Doherty to squeeze a low shot in at the far post and make it 3-5-1-8.
A second converted close range free from Monaghan had the deficit at two, but St Pat’s Lisburn ended a 15-minute scoreless period with a point from double goalscorer Oisin Gorman.
Glenavy should have had a second goal in the 47th minute, Pearse O’Neill carried the ball forward and laid the ball off to Odhran Arthurs, he in turn slipped the ball to Michael Morgan and his shot was bravely blocked behind by Eamonn Doyle.
The resulting 45’ from Morgan dropped over the bar to reduce arrears to two-points again before Darragh Doherty pointed to make it a single point game with 10-minutes remaining.
It wouldn’t take long for Glenavy to hit the front for the first time. Pearse O’Neill took and Michael Morgan combined and the ball was floated across the face of goal and scrambled in by Paddy Gallagher to make it 2-11-3-6.
With only a single Oisin Gorman point to their name by the 26th minute of the second period; St Pat’s needed to dig deep and they showed their resolve with quickfire points to draw level.
Josh McMullan threaded a pass through to Jude Rafferty, a goal opportunity was on but Rafferty blasted over the bar. Then 60-seconds later substitute Ben McMullan steered his shot over and tied the game.
The match remained a stalemate until the 60th minute when Michael Morgan doubled his personal tally and crucially nudged his side back in front, a position they wouldn’t relinquish.
The lead was doubled through a fisted James Monaghan score, and substitute Dara Brown popped over the insurance point five minutes into time added on as Glenavy joined St Enda’s at the Group 2 summit.
Both sides are back into action next weekend when Glenavy travel to Ahoghill on Saturday afternoon, while St Pat’s Lisburn make the trip to Hightown to face St Enda’s just over 24 hours later.
ST PAT’S LISBURN: C O’Neill, C Doran (1-0), S Burns (0-1), J McMullan, E Doyle, J Wilson, C Smyth, T Buckley, A Patterson (0-1), C Burns, O Gorman (2-1), D Austin, B McGarr (0-1), O Drayne (0-1), J Rafferty (0-2).
SUBS: J Broderick for C Doran (49), C Ward for O Drayne (52), C Rush for C Burns (550, B McMullan (0-1) for J Wilson (55),J McGurk for T Buckley (60).
GLENAVY: M Lawlor, R Forester, P McKevitt, M Fox, M Johnston, C Hamill, P Fox, D Doherty (1-1), C Loney (0-2), F O’Boyle, P Gallagher (1-0), P O’Neill (0-1), L Lavery (0-1f), M Morgan (0-2, 0-1 45’), J Monaghan (0-6, 0-3f).
SUBS: F Shannon for L Lavery (HT), D Brown (0-1) for C Hamill (47), O Arthurs for M Johnston (47), R Philips for P Gallagher (56).
REFEREE: Ritchie Leahy (MONEYGLASS)
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