Shock Adamstown loss
A GOAL in each half set St. Martin’s up for a shock three-point victory over a fancied Adamstown outfit in this entertaining Joyces Expert Intermediate ‘A’ football championship Group A game in Grantstown on Sunday.
St. Martin’s second string looked quite strong as they more than matched their opponents and were full value for their victory over an Adamstown side that are the fancy of many to emerge from this grade, having been Senior a few short seasons back.
But St. Martin’s were the better balanced side in stark contrast to their opponents who were so reliant on inter-county Senior captain Michael Furlong. He put in a huge 60 minutes at midfield, but the lack of scoring power in attack came back to haunt them in the end.
St. Martin’s had the ideal start, leading by 1-1 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter when playing into the breeze.
The goal came after just two minutes when Conor Coleman burst through the centre of defence to finish with a powerful shot past ‘keeper Jason Whitty.
Peter Finn and Coleman went on to exchange points, while further points from Colum Feeney and Michael Furlong left the minimum separating the sides after 15 minutes.
Adamstown were coming more into the game which allowed for points from Peter Finn and a longrange Furlong effort to put them in front (0-5 to 1-1) for the first time after 19 minutes.
Points were exchanged by Seán Stafford and Seánie O’Neill, while Feeney and Ryan Murphy did likewise to leave Adamstown with a 0-7 to 1-3 interval lead.
Michael Furlong picked off two further Adamstown efforts on the re-start, while Murphy replied in between with a free.
With both sides now finding scoring more difficult, the decisive breakthrough came in the 47th minute when Jack Devereux got on the end of a fine move started in midfield to finish with a low shot to the net.
This gave his side a one-point advantage (2-4 to 0-9) to take into the closing ten minutes.
When Conor Coleman kicked over two fine long-range points, St. Martin’s had stretched into a 2-6 to 0-9 lead, but two Michael Furlong pointed frees set up a tense finish as just the minimum separated the sides.
Conor Devereux settled St. Martin’s with a fine point from an acute angle, while a Jack Devereux point in additional time sealed their win.
St. Martin’s: Nicky Greene; Jack Whelan, Donal Kelly, Shane Walsh; Eoin O’Leary, Philip Dempsey, Johnny Hamilton; Ryan Murphy (0-2 frees), Ben Stafford; Jack Devereux (1-1), Conor Coleman (1-3), Seán Stafford (0-1); Zac Firman, Leo Burke, Conor Devereux (0-1). Subs. - Pádraic Rossiter for Walsh, Conor Kelly for Firman.
Adamstown: Jason Whitty; Johnny Connors, Shane O’Gorman, Tomás Harrington; Brendan Furlong, Lorcan French, Mark Cowman; Tony French, Michael Furlong (0-6, 3 frees); James O’Shea, Seán Barden, Colum Feeney (0-2, 1 free); Seánie O’Neill (0-1), Peter Finn (0-2), Colm Boland.
Referee: Jack Stafford (Clongeen).