Peter’s under pressure to qualify from football group

ST. MEL’S (LONGFORD) ST. PETER’S (WEXFORD) 2-12 0-13

ST. PETER’S College face a tall order in their quest to qualify for the knockout stages of the Top Oil Leinster Post-Primary Schools Senior football ‘A’ championship after this opening round defeat to St. Mel’s (Longford) in Geraldine Park, Athy, on Wednesday.

The other side in Group D, last year’s beaten finalists, Marist of Athlone, are generally regarded as having a stronger team this time around, and they will now meet Mel’s in Killoe this Wednesday.

Peter’s will be in action again next week against Marist and, regardless of the outcome of that all-midlands clash, it will be a must-win encounter for the Wexford town school.

The concession of 1-4 without reply in the closing stages resulted in defeat to Mel’s but, in truth, the damage had been done earlier when the losers kicked eleven wides despite being backed by the first-half wind.

In contrast, their rivals made better use of limited chances, with no scoring attempts going astray as they restricted Peter’s to a slender 0-9 to 1-4 interval lead.

That Mel’s goal was the key score, and it came out of nothing in the eighth minute. Peter’s were 0-3 to nil ahead at the time, after scores from Conall Clancy, Diarmuid Barry and Clancy again, and there appeared to be no imminent danger when the Longford side worked the ball into the right corner of their attack.

However, a hopeful-looking first-time crossfield pull from Darragh O’Connell arrived in the arms of corner-forward Cian Cassidy close to goal, and he slid the ball past netminder Jake Clancy for the equaliser.

That concession stunned Peter’s as they fell behind following points from Cian Dooner (free) and Cassidy, before the impressive rival centre-forwards, Conall Clancy and Darragh O’Connell, exchanged scores (1-3 to 0-4).

And after a Shane Pettit effort drew a response from another Dooner free, Peter’s produced a strong finish to the half.

Four points on the trot, a brace apiece from Pettit (one free) and Ben Stafford, left them ahead by 0-9 to 1-4 at the break, but it didn’t look like a particularly strong lead given the strength of the wind blowing towards the Dublin Road end.

Most of those missed Peter’s chances had veered to the left of the posts, but at least they resumed brightly when Pettit pointed another free, after Jake Clancy made a good save to deny Darragh O’Connell within seconds of the re-start.

Mel’s only kicked four wides when backed by the elements, and that was the essential difference.

They were level by the 40th minute after points from Euan Finneran, Cian Dooner (free) and O’Connell, but they had good fortune on their hands too when Peter’s substitute Jack O’Leary drove a shot over the bar with a goal on the cards (0-11 to 1-7).

Dooner (free) levelled again, but the Summerhill side dug deep and moved ahead by 0-13 to 1-8 after influential substitute Tomás Murphy earned two frees for Pettit to convert.

Alas, the second goal that effectively killed them off arrived in the 54th minute, with a Jake Donnelly handpass inside the defensive cover locating Cian Cassidy who netted once again with a classy low finish into the right corner (2-8 to 0-13).

Mel’s had their tails up at that stage and, with every score potentially making a big difference if the three teams should finish level on points, they stretched their winning margin to five with late scores from Cian Dooner (two frees), Euan Finneran and Mario Pirlog.

St. Peter’s: Jake Clancy (Sarsfields); Aaron Doyle (Shelmaliers), Barry Ryan (Glynn-Barntown), James O’Leary (Our Lady’s Island); Ryan Furlong (Sarsfields), Sam Audsley (St. Martin’s), Jake Nobbs (Blackwater); Aaron Culleton (Blackwater), Paul Deeny (Volunteers); Conor Kehoe (Sarsfields), Conall Clancy (Sarsfields, 0-3), Ben Stafford (St. Martin’s, 0-2); Diarmuid Barry (St. Martin’s, 0-1), Ross Banville (Shelmaliers, capt.), Shane Pettit (St. Fintan’s, 0-6, 4 frees). Subs. - Jack O’Leary (St. Fintan’s, 0-1) for Culleton (HT), Conor Mahoney (Glynn-Barntown) for Stafford, inj. (37), Tomás Murphy (Blackwater) for Nobbs (46), Garbhan MacCormack (Glynn-Barntown) for Ryan (56).

St. Mel’s: Eoin McGuinness (capt.); Cian Murphy, Darren Moffitt, Paulis Merkelis; Michael McCann, James Moran, Seán O’Sullivan; Dario Cigliano, Euan Finneran (0-2); Daniel Reynolds, Darragh O’Connell (0-2), Diarmuid Sheehan; Cian Cassidy (2-1), Cian Dooner (0-6, 5 frees), Jake Donnelly. Subs. - Jack Duggan for Cigliano (24), Mario Pirlog (0-1) for Reynolds (49), Paul Brady for Merkelis (60), Tiernan Hussey for Donnelly (60+1), Jake Taylor for O’Connell (60+4).

Referee: Brendan Hickey (Kildare).