ST JOSEPHS 5-15

Five-star St Joseph’s get back to winning ways

ST. Josephs got back to winning ways in this Division 2 League roller coaster match at Cluskey Park on Saturday night with a win against second from bottom Nh Fionnbarra. The Finbarrs stunned the Joes early on when Mairtin Murphy broke through to beat Eamonn Neary in the Joes goal in the very first minute. The Joes hit back with points from David Mernagh and Jack Mulligan before Daire Smyth finished to the Bars net following good work by Derek Mulligan and Alan Lynch. Joes were ahead by 1-5 to 1-4 at half time.

The Joes started the half in blistering fashion with a Derek Mulligan point in the first minute but a minute later David Mernagh crashed the ball to the Finbars net. Two points from Conall Smyth was followed by excellent combination play between Jack Mulligan and Killian Staunton with Mulligan finishing to net to put the Joes ahead by nine points.

The Joes extended their lead with a long range point from Jack Mulligan before the Finbarrs showed their true spirit and dominated the next 10 minutes and a goal from Padraic Murphy saw them score 1-6 without reply and leaving the score line St. Josephs 3-9, Naomh Fionnbarra 2-10.

Just when it appeared the Finbarrs had got the upper hand the Joes hit another purple patch, an Alan Lynch 45 put the Joe ahead by three before excellent work by Craig Doherty setup Jack Mulligan for his second goal of the game on 20 mins. The last 10 mins saw Conall Smyth in devastating form scoring 1-4 with a further point from Jack Mulligan. In between the Joes goal enduring a number of near misses before the final score of the match came from a Bernard Osborne penalty. ST JOSEPHS: Eamonn Neary, Aidan Kieran, Stefan Potts, Philip Kinahan, Cian McGuinness, David Mernagh (1-1), Ciaran Gallagher, Bernard Mulligan, Killian Staunton, Jack Mulligan (2-3), Conall Smyth (1-8), Daire Smyth (1-0), Craig Doherty, Alan Lynch (0-1), Derek Mulligan (0-2).

NAOMH FIONNBARRA: Shane O’Brien; Hugh McGrane, Conor Lenihan, Bryan Sharkey (0-1); Chris McGlynn (0-1), Óisín McGee (0-1), Pádraig Butterly, Darren McConnon, John Doyle, Máirtín Murphy 1-2, Hugh Osborne 0-1, Conor Osborne 0-1, Bernard Osborne 1-2, Gary Matthews, Pádraic Murphy 1-1. Subs: Nicholas Buttery for G Matthews, Martin O’Neill for C McGlynn, Michael McArdle for P Butterly.