Danske Bank Rafferty Cup, Section A Round 2
St Malachy’s Castlewellan 3-16-6-9 St. Marys CBGS
Kevin Herron reports from Castlewellan
St. Mary’s CBGS made it back-to-back group stage victories in the Danske Bank Rafferty Cup as Padraig Kelly netted a penalty with the final kick to the game to secure a dramatic 6-9-3-16 comeback win over St. Malachy’s Castlewellan on Monday afternoon.
The Glen Road natives were caught cold in the early stages, conceding 2-1 inside of the first seven minutes.
Paraic McAleenan slipped a pass into Rhyan O’Neill to roll a shot past Conan Mulligan to get the hosts off to a perfect start.
McAleenan pointed following a one-two with Thomas Kane and things got better when Finn Feenan drove through the heart of the St. Mary’s defence and rifled home.
It took St. Mary’s a while to settle but after Cristoir McCabe’s shot was deflected behind for a 45’, Padraig Kelly would kick the resulting placed ball to get the visitors up and running.
After securing the resulting kick-out Darragh O’Sullivan swept a crossfield pass to McCabe to pop over.
In response Paraic McAleenan added two further points as St. Malachy’s had restored their seven-point advantage.
St. Mary’s reduced arrears with their first goal of the afternoon. Sean McMullan found the run of Matthew O’Neill to lay the ball off to Cristoir McCabe and he showed great composure to find a way towards goal and steer a low shot in at the near post to make it 2-3-1-2.
McCabe kicked his second point of the afternoon shortly afterwards and had his side on level terms.
Darragh O’Sullivan won the break and floated a high ball towards the goal with Cristoir McCabe getting the vital touch with his hand to steer the ball past Padraig McAnearney and into the net to make it 2-3 apiece.
It was enough to awaken St. Malachy’s who finished the half stronger and led at the interval. Thomas Kane shot over his first of the afternoon, McAleenan increased his personal tally and Setanta Laverty dropped over his first as the hosts held a 2-6-2-3 lead at the break.
The Mourne men picked up where they left off and tagged on four scores on the spin. Cillian McCann extended the lead, Padraig Bannon then clipped over, Paraic McAleenan scored his fifth of proceedings and a Finn Feenan point had a seven-point deficit between the sides for the third time (2-10-2-3).
St. Mary’s briefly sparked to life again, they should have had their third goal when Cristoir McCabe picked out Padraig Kelly and his goal bound shot was superbly parried over the bar by Padraig McAnearney in the St. Malachy’s goal.
Kelly then kicked his third of the afternoon from a mark, but the seven-point margin was restored after Padraig Bannon conjured up his second point and Eoin Polly converted a free.
A third goal of the game gave the Belfast side renewed hope. Darragh O’Sullivan found Padraig Kelly and his slipped pass released Cristoir McCabe to fire home his third goal and make it (2-12-3-5).
Kelly added a point from a free and after substitute Anton Corr found McCabe and he swung over, the visitors had a spring in their step.
For the first time in the game St. Mary’s hit the front. Padraig Kelly thundered a goal bound shot off the crossbar, the ball broke out and bobbled into the path of Matthew O’Neill who made no mistake and blasted his side into a 4-7-2-12 lead.
It was only a brief advantage though as Padraig McAleenan found Matthew O’Shea to pop over a leveller, Eoin Polly kicked a close range free to edge his side back ahead and further scores from Setanta Laverty and McAleenan had the hosts back in the ascendancy.
The topsy-turvy encounter took another twist in the closing stages when Darragh O’Sullivan closed down Luke Rice and laid the ball off to Padraig Kelly to rifle home and restore parity (2-16-5-7).
It looked as though St. Mary’s fightback would fall just short as Eoin Polly tucked away St. Malachy’s third goal of the game with just over a minute remaining.
The visitors would close out the game with a man advantage for a black card offence outside the arc and Padraig Kelly kicked the resulting two-pointed free to leave the narrowest of margins the difference with less than 30-seconds remaining.
It was imperative that St. Mary’s got hands to the resulting kick out and they did just that with Crisotir McCabe twisting and turning towards goal, only to go down under a challenge and the referee signalled for a penalty.
Padraig Kelly stood over the pressure kick and showed no sign of nerves as he blasted to the net with the games final kick to ensure his side ran out 6-9-3-16 winners and maintain their winning start to the groupstage.
More photos of the game are included in the link below
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