14th July 2006 - County Junior Football League Division 2 Semi-Final in Cloon, Killorlgin

St. Mary's 2-10 V 0-13 Gneeveguilla

St. Mary’s Juniors qualified for the County Junior Division 2 League Final after securing victory against Gneeveguilla on Friday night last in Cloon, Killorglin. The Mary’s made it tough for themselves when they trailed by 5 points after 10 minutes of the second half mainly due to poor and sloppy play from the Cahersiveen side in the first half. After a first half in which the East Kerry side should have been ahead by a cricket score the Mary’s only trailed by the minimum and after some influential substitutions by management the Mary’s produced a brilliant comeback and two goals in the final 20 minutes from Seamus Fitzgerald, penalty, and Vinny Moriarty help the Mary’s to victory by 3 points, they will now go on and play Spa in the final who overcame Sneem.

Gneeveguilla were first off the mark when Benny O’Connor put the ball between the posts, but Sean Cournane, 16,  cancelled this out 5 minutes later with a free of his own. Angus Keane and O’Connor added two more for the Gneeveguilla side without reply before good build up play between Fergal O’Connell and Connie O’Connor assisted Cournane to get his second. St. Mary’s were sinking quickly as Keane and Kevin Donnelly added two more for Gneeveguilla to put 3 between the sides and dominating play. St. Mary’s were kept in the game mainly due to Cournane who added his and his side’s third point after 24 minutes. Aidan O’Donoghue cancelled this out and kept his sides distance with a point but full forward Seamus Fitzgerald put Vinny Moriarty into a good position and he pointed but only to be matched by Benny O’Connor when Michael Murphy helped him with a great ball. With time nearly up in the first half St. Mary’s finally found form to keep them in touch when John Quirke knocked over a 45m free, Fitzgerald had a great goal chance but only to be denied by Padriag Riordan in the Gneeveguilla goal, but made up for it when he put the resulting 45 over the bar to leave the score at the short whistle St. Mary’s 0-6 Gneeveguilla 0-7.

As the second half got under way Gneeveguilla were very quick out of the blocks kicking 4 unanswered points from play from Benny O’Connor (2), Tomas Murphy and Kevin Donnelly to open up a 5 point gap. The turning point of the game came when St. Mary’s were awarded a penalty when Moriarty passed the ball onto Fitzgerald and when he was felled in the area referee Twiss pointed to the spot and Fitzgerald dusted himself off to burry the ball to the top right corner and finally get a grip on the game. After an injury to John Quirke he had to be substituted with John ‘Casur’ O’Sullivan, and he made an immediate impact when he pointed within 2 minutes of his introduction and cut the margin to the minimum. St. Mary’s then took the lead for the first time in the duration of the game when a long ball from Fergal O’Connell found Vinny Moriarty and he calmly palmed the ball to the back of the net, St. Mary’s were now on top in all areas of the pitch and especially in the backs where Brian Curran was keeping Gneeveguilla danger man DJ O’Connor very quiet all game. After 48 and 50 minutes respectively two substitutes Conor Moran and Alan Clifford made a very good case for their starting berths when they added points and helped the Mary’s to a 4 point lead with 10 minutes remaining. Points were exchanges on 54 and 57 minutes between O’Connor and Fitzgerald from a 45m free before O’Connor rounded off his nights tally to 7 points and leave the final score in Cloon, St. Mary’s 2-10 Gneeveguilla 0-13.

St. Mary’s will now play Spa in the Division 2 Final, who overcame Sneem 1-12 to 0-10 in the respective semi-final. St. Mary’s will have to improve on their first half performance but a full 60 minutes of their second half game should put them in contention for promotion to Division 1. Best on the night for St. Mary’s were Cormac O’Shea in goal, Brian Curran and Daniel Mahony in the backs, Paul O’Connell, Seamus Fitzgerald and Sean Cournane in the forward while all four subs of Conor Moran, Declan O’Sullivan, John O’Sullivan and Alan Clifford made an impact. Credit must also go to the management for making the correct substitutions and who had a very difficult task especially when St. Mary’s had a massive 28 man panel on the night. Stay tuned to local media for final date and venue.