St Patrick’s overcame Geevagh in a hard-fought and physical Connacht
Gold Intermediate championship Group One encounter at the Sligo GAA Centre of
Excellence on Saturday evening.
The victory, their second in the competition after a narrow defeat
by St Molaise Gales a week earlier, leapfrogs them over Saturday’s opponents
and sets up a winner takes all final day encounter with Eastern Harps on Sunday
next with a place in the semi-final for the winners.
Although St Patricks were ahead from early on and fully deserved
their victory, the margin didn’t reflect the continuous challenge presented by
a battling Geevagh who made their opponents fight for every score.
After the eventual winners missed a few early opportunities,
it was Geevagh who got off the mark first when midfielder Joey Reilly struck a fine
goal on four minutes after a surging run from the middle.
The west county side responded in kind just two minutes
later when Pierce Kearins finished a move that started from the middle of the
field where they had established an early dominance through the fine fielding
of James Clarke and Cathal Finneran.
St Patricks pressed on from there and dominated possession
and territory over the remainder of the half. They added a further 1-6 without
reply to set up their winning position with the second goal coming from James Clarke
and points from Padraic Clarke, Thomas McMunn, Jim Davis.
Geevagh’ s Kevin Henry, with his side’s first score in 25
minutes, and Padraic Clarke exchanged pointed frees just before the break to
leave the half time score at 2-7 to 1-1.
Padraic Clarke opened the second half scoring for St
Patricks but they found it very difficult to add to their tally as Geevagh
maintained a robust challenge across their defence. They couldn’t convert that into any movement
in the scoreboard however and despite the efforts of Henry in the middle and Sligo
county player Donal Conlon up front, it took until the 43rd minute
before they added a score from Vincent Corcoran which was quickly followed by two
Ciaran Jennings points, the second a fine effort from distance.
The Geevagh resistance was wilting however and black cards
from Corcoran and then Henry stretched their defence until eventually St
Patricks broke through with a well finished Ciaran Giblin goal in the 54th
minute. The winners then added points from Padraic Clarke, Canice Mulligan, and
Donal Brady to finish out a with a deserved win on a slightly flattering 3-11
to 1-5 score line.
St Patrick’s: Cormac
Noland; Jonathan Higgins, Connell Kearins, Enda Clarke; Darragh Williams, Joe
McMunn, David Giblin (0-1); James Clarke (1-0), Cathal Finneran; Conor Keavny, Thomas
McMunn (0-1), Canice Mulligan (0-1); Jim Davis, Padraic Clarke (0-4), Pierce
Kearins (1-4).
Subs: Donal Brady for Thomas
McMunn, Ciaran Giblin (1-0) for Jim Davis, Paul Boland for Padraic Clarke,
Martin Clarke for Conor Keavny, Niall Connolly for Pierce Kearins
Geevagh;
Darren Kearns; Arthur Wall, Daniel Smith, Vincent Corcoran (0-1); Gary McManamon,
Conor Lavin, Thomas O’Reilly; Joseph O’Reilly (1-1), Donal Conlon; Daniel
Devine, Ciaran Jennings (0-2) TJ Davey, Darren Foley, Kevin Henry (0-1), Daithí
O’Reilly.
Subs: Eamonn
McDonagh for Devine, Dylan Gabbidon for Smith, Declan Cunnane for Dylan
Gabbidon (inj)