South Antrim McDermott Cup Final
St Johns 7-7-2-10 O’Donnells
Kevin Herron reports from Corrigan Park
A blendful mix of youth and experience was the perfect tonic for St Johns as they had too much for O’Donnell’s in Sunday’s McDermott Cup Final, running out 7-7-2-10 winners at Corrigan Park.
St Johns led through an early Lorcan Heenan free and then scored the opening goal inside of four minutes.
Corey Darragh carried the ball from defence and a sweeping move saw Lorcan Heenan pop a ball across the face of goal where Fionn Thompson finished to the net.
The Corrigan outfit should have had a second goal when Alex Jennings carried the ball and his shot clipped the bar on its way over.
A second goal arrived inside of 7-minutes, Michael Darragh broke the kick-out and fed Conor Adams to sweep home.
OD’s were unable to take advantage of several placed balls inside the first quarter of an hour, but their first score in the afternoon was a goal.
After being awarded a close range free Conor Corr caught the Johnnies defence napping and thumped the ball past David Hand and into the net to make it 2-2-1-0.
60-seconds later goalkeeper Conor Murphy came upfield and kicked a two-pointed effort.
St Johns settled again with a converted Adams free and he turned provider in the 21st minute when his free was touched to the net by Lorcan Heenan to make it 3-3-1-2.
A converted Conor Corr free followed before the hosts found the net for the fourth time in the 26th minute.
Heenan shot home his second goal of the half after Niall McCallin slipped a neat pass from him to run onto, round Conor Murphy and apply the finish.
In the aftermath Andy McGowan swept over 60-seconds before he was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red.
Just before the break, Conor Murphy kicked his second two-pointed free of the half to ensure his side trailed 4-4-1-5 at the interval.
The sides exchanged scores upon the resumption, Conor Adams converting a close range St Johns free, while at the other end Michael Ferrick evaded pressure and thundered a shot high into the top corner to give ODs renewed hope.
However, the Johnnies responded with a goal of their own. Corey Darragh clipped a sideline short to Conor Adams, he laid the ball off to Niall McCallin and he picked out substitute Joe Hand to blast low into the corner and make it 5-5-2-5.
A Marc McKenna point on the turn kept the visitors within relative touch, while Joshua Robb and Ciaran McKissock traded points approaching the last quarter of an hour.
The gap would still remain at eight with little under 10-minutes to play, Barra Corr dropped a shot over to reduce arrears, only for Joe Hand to shot over from a fine high pass from Kevin McGlinchey.
Any faint hope of a late ODs revival were quashed when St Johns hit two goals in the space of a minute.
Conor Adams was first to net with a dinked effort over Conor Murphy and into the net, D’Anglo Ward then carried the ball forward at pace and laid the ball off to Joe Hand to crash home his second goal and make it 7-7-2-8.
There were late points courtesy of Ciaran McKissock and Patrick Matthews but it was little more than scant consolation as St Johns emphatically ran out winners to lift the McDermott Cup at the conclusion.
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