Lennon Cup woes as St Mary’s see red in final
HISTORY was made in Darver on Thursday night as Bush Post Primary captain Gerard White lifted the Lennon Cup for the first time ever.
The maiden success plots a remarkable rise in the school’s fortunes, although the peninsula side were pushed by a valiant St Mary’s DS Drogheda outfit.
The final was marred somewhat by a triple sending-off in the second half - all on the Drogheda side - for dissent to referee David J McArdle.
The St Mary’s captain David Bell was first to receive a straight red, and with the game still stopped substitute Cian Flynn was sent to the line as well.
McArdle, who was determined to make a stand on the night, then proceeded to send James McWeeney off minutes later for a similar offence.
The dismissals, while valid, spoiled the remainder of the game and the line between common sense and governance was probably somewhere in the middle.
The outcome mightn’t have been any different because at that stage Bush were already deservedly 6-2 ahead through Cian Connor’s accuracy and the brilliance of Enda O’Neill, but the finish would have no doubt been much tighter.
Through some powerful running from their underage rugby international Karl Martin and Sam O’Leary, the Drogheda side huffed and puffed to dominate the nervy opening exchanges. However, they didn’t register a single score during that period and that led to their downfall.
Some credit for that must go to the Bush sweeper Ronan McBride as he broke up play and along with MJ Hanlon dragged his side into the game.
Three first-half points from Connor then shifted the initiative towards the side in maroon.
During this dominant period Enda O’Neill drifted out the field and his vision and link play was exceptional, stitching his more cohesive forward line together singlehandedly.
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McKenna did land the Mary’s side’s only point from play in the entire evening in the 25th minute, before McWeeney reduced the deficit further from a free to make it a one-point game - 3-2 - at half-time.
Assisted by hard-running Cooley counterpart Patrick Johnston, Connor began to pile even more scoreboard pressure on St Mary’s.
O’Neill raised the roof with a classy score, and with the game slipping away from them the pressure finally crescendoed for Alaric Costigan’s charges in the form of indiscipline.
With their opponents now reduced to only 12 men, Bush took their time to seize the initiative, but once they did Johnston ran amok. The centre forward scored three of his side’s last four points to ensure that a new name has been added to the competition’s roll of honour list.
BUSH PP: Niall Brady; Paul Brennan, Peter Lynch, Conor McAvinney; Ian Arnold, James McDonnell, MJ Hanlon; Gerard White, Aaron Carolan; Cian Connor 0-6 (4f), Patrick Johnson 0-3 (1f), Darren Connor; Ronán McBride, Enda O’Neill 0-1, Calum O’Hanlon. Subs: Cormac Malone for McAvinney (35min), Thomas McCarragher for Darren Connor (40), Peter Kumkrong for Carolan (55), Philip Sharkey for C O’Hanlon (60). ST. MARY’S DS: Sean Quinn; Alan Bowden, Almar Kraja, Liam Stafford 0-1 (45); Sam O’Leary, Caolan Nulty, Cian Ryan; Karl Martin, Dylan McCreedy; Joe Comiskey, Ruairi Hanlon, Ewan Sweeney; Oisin McKenna 0-1, James McWeeney 0-1 (f), David Bell. Subs: Cian Flynn for Hanlon (29min), Sean Murray for Kraja (35), Tony Smith for Comiskey (41), Oisin Miland for McKenna (51). REF: David J McArdle (St Bride’s)
The game was marred somewhat by a triple sending-off in the second half, all on the Mary’s side.