St Mary’s
capture another crown
St Mary’s
2-15 St Farnan’s 1-6
A
rampant St Mary’s claimed yet another Minor title last Thursday evening when
they strolled to a comfortable 2-15 to 1-6 win over St Farnan’s in the Expert
Electrical Sligo Division One final at the Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence, Scarden.
Comfortable
throughout, the winners were well served by Nathan Rooney, scorer of nine
points, and centre-back Ryan Feehily, amongst others, with a whole host of St
Mary’s players excelling.
St
Farnan’s were too reliant on county minor players Finnian Cawley and Paddy
O’Connor to make any real headway, and unfortunately for the west Sligo outfit
their fine league campaign came to a shuddering halt in front of a healthy
attendance.
Remarkably,
Nathan Rooney scored St Mary’s first seven points inside the opening 13
minutes, in a devastating period from the full-forward. This early dominance
forced St Farnan’s to deploy a sweeper in front of Rooney for the remainder of
the half, but the damage was already done.
0-7
to 0-2 ahead after 21 minutes, St Mary’s netted in the 25th minute
through Kyle Cawley after some indecisiveness in the St Farnan’s defence, and
although Finnian Cawley fired over a fine 26th minute point in
response, St Mary’s went in at the break 1-8 to 0-3 ahead when Jake Hargadon
pointed late on in the half.
Hopes
for a St Farnan’s comeback were dashed early on in the second half as the
winners scored four of the first five points following the interval with Rooney
(2) Oisin Kelly and Paul Kilcoyne on target.
St
Mary’s sat back somewhat in the final ten minutes – they netted for a second time
through Conor Darcy in the 49th minute - but St Farnan’s struggled
to break down their well-organised defensive set-up.
A
late goal, coming from Paddy O’Connor who helped Gavin Calpin’s long range
effort into the net, was a small consolation for St Farnan’s but there was no
doubting that the better team on the evening emerged as victors.
St
Mary’s: N Cawley; R Allen, H Mousa, T O’Kelly-Lynch; O Kelly (0-1), R Feehily,
K Conlon; S Mulligan, P Kilcoyne (0-1); C Darcy (1-1), K Cawley (1-1), N
McDermott; J Hargadon (0-2), N Rooney (0-9, 5fs), N Murray. Subs: N Hargadon, S
O’Hehir, J McDonagh.
St
Farnan’s: K Devaney; F Ryan, C Gillen, P Flynn; J Weir, E Kilgannon, F
Kilgannon; F Cawley (0-4, 2fs), M Devaney; K Kilrehill, P O’Connor (1-2), N
Crean; S Mulligan, G Calpin, C Gordon. Subs: C Murray
Referee:
C McGovern