14th May 2006 - Castleisland Co-Op Mart Intermediate Championship Round 1 in Con Keating Park

St. Mary's 0-06 V 0-12 Spa

Division two side Spa gained a double score victory over Division ones St. Mary’s in Con Keating Park on Saturday evening last. Played in poor weather conditions Spa kicked themselves into an eight point lead at the break thanks to points from Niall O’Mahony, Thomas Lynch, Ross Donovan and Michael O’Donoghue, while it took the home side 24 minutes to register a score with Bryan Sheehan from a close range free. The second half was a lot more closely contested with St. Mary’s picking up points from Adam Quirke, Declan O’Sullivan, Ray Keane and Bryan Sheehan, despite these score St. Mary’s still kicked wide’s in abundance while Spas corner forward Michael O’Donoghue put in a man of the match performance with 6 points from his side 12.

Niall O’Mahony opened the scoring with a 30m free for his side, this was to set Spa on their way when they added six more points without reply in the space of 20 minutes from Tomas Lynch, Ross Donovan (2, 1 close free) and Michael O’Donoghue (3). Andrew Garnet and Kevin Healy were winning everything around the middle of the park and with O’Donoghue’s scoring power Spa were flying and couldn’t believe their luck. St. Mary’s however did manage a point before the break after a foul on Paulie Donoghue, Bryan Sheehan converted from 25m. With three minutes remaining O’Donoghue was at it again with two more points, the first after Ivor Flynn won the kick out and the second from an Owen Cronin assist to leave the half time score St. Mary’s 0-1 Spa 0-9.

St. Mary’s came out of the blocks brighter in the second half when Declan O’Sullivan set Ray Keane up for a point after the first minute, but Niall O’Mahony made sure the home side weren’t going to gather momentum with a point after a poor Mary’s clearance. Flynn and O’Donoghue combined for Donovan’s third point while St. Mary’s clocked up 4 points without reply from Declan O’Sullivan, Bryan Sheehan frees from 50 and 30m respectively, and Sheehan was involved again when he played the ball wide to Adam Quirke who pointed from 35m for the Mary’s final score. Spa weren’t finished though when Michael O’Donoghue had the final say with a point a minute from time to leave the final score at Con Keating Park, St. Mary’s 0-06 Spa 0-12.

Man of the Match on the day was Michael O’Donoghue without a doubt, who showed that he is more than capable to challenge for the county setup, others to shine were Hugh O’Donoghue, Fergus Clifford, Kevin Healy, Andrew Garnett, Ivor Flynn, Niall O’Mahony and Ross Donovan, while stars were few and far between for the home side. St. Mary’s will put the loss down to the lack of fitness and their poor kicking especially, while Spa will have taken a huge confidence boost with a win over a team in a higher division and will now defiantly be one of the main contenders for the title.

Scorers: Spa – Michael O’Donoghue 0-6, Ross Donovan 0-3,1 free, Niall O’Mahony 0-2, Thomas Lynch 0-1. St. Mary’s – Bryan Sheehan 0-3, 1 free, Adam Quirke, Ray Keane, Declan O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

Teams: St. Mary’s – D Corcoran, M T O’Connor, A O’Sullivan, B Curran, L Sheehan, J M Clifford, D Walsh, N O’Driscoll, B Sheehan, A Quirke, A Constable, P Donoghue, D O’Sullivan, R Keane, D O’Sullivan. Sub: C O’Shea for D Corcoran.
Spa – J Devane, S Lynch, H O’Donoghue, B Gleeson, O Cronin, F Clifford, C Cronin, K Healy, A Garnett, P Russell, I Flynn, N O’Mahony, M O’Donoghue, R Donovan, T Lynch. Sub: P Cronin for P Russell.
Referee: C Foley (Cordal)