St Mary’s denied spot in the final
ST MARY’S 2-11 DRUMCLIFFE/ ROSSES POINT 3-9
TWO injury time scores from Drumcliffe/ Rosses Point’s Eoin Gaughan denied St Mary’s a place in this year’s Senior Football League Division One final.
Mary’s lead this Kent Park encounter by a single point going into added time, with a draw enough to hand them a place in this year’s decider against Tourlestrane. But two scores from the accurate Gaughan at the death, turned this game on its head, allowing Coolaney/Mullinabreena to progress to the final despite their defeat to Eastern Harps.
Harps’ win also meant this result mattered little to the north Sligo men who were relegated to Division Two.
Drumcliffe/RP started this game with a bang. Paul Logan teeing up Kevin Davey who tucked the ball beyond Mary’s goalkeeper Fintan Ruddy.
Both sides exchanged points in the following moments. Johnny Martyn for Mary’s while Niall Collery cut inside to fist over his only score of the afternoon.
The game was level on four minutes as the Sligo town side hit back. Rory Guinan allowed far too much time and space to execute a crisp finish for the first of his two goals.
The home team lead for the first time on seven minutes when Mark McGoldrick found the posts.
Just moments before team mate Guinan had his second green flag, this time from the penalty spot.
Fergal O’Flaherty’s charges didn’t allow their heads to drop and charged their way back into this tie. Gaughan firing over twice in quick succession to leave two between the teams with 13 minutes elapsed.
Mary’s Jonathan Lynch registered the first of his two points just shy of the quarter hour. Impressive hand passing through the spine of the same team allowing McGoldrick to notch another point two minutes later.
Mary’s were to go the remainder of the half without a score after Niall McManus picked up his only point of the day on 18 minutes. Drumcliffe/RP rallying as they went about eating into the deficit. Davey finding Monaghan who in turn found the net from close range.
With two points between the teams and having weathered a sustained period of Mary’s possession, the north Sligo boys continued to turn the tide on 24 minutes. Gaughan and Collery playing a quick one-two before the former fired over the crossbar.
Referee John Gilmartin ruled out what looked like a legitimate Mary’s point minutes from the break.
As their rivals mulled over the decision, Drumcliffe/RP levelled the game on the stroke of half-time. Logan striking from the ground to see the side’s tied at 2-5 a piece at the interval. McGoldrick and Davey swapped scores early in the second period. Mary’s net minder Ruddy getting in on the action on 40 minutes, sending over a 45. While Cian Breheny extended the lead to two as he charged through a forest of challenges to kick his only point of the game. Drumcliffe/RP hit two wasteful wides but determined, they pulled it back to a one pointer as Gaughan again shot over.
Mary’s Lynch had his second moments later, but the boys from north Sligo again showed character to take the lead with nine minutes to go. Gaughan didn’t know much about it, but he gleefully took the goal after Cian Lally’s initial drive cannoned back off the crossbar. The ball bouncing off Gaughan and into an empty net with Ruddy stranded.
A tense finish ensued. Quick fire white flags from a gutsy Guinan looked to be sending Mary’s into the final. But his opposite number Gaughan had different ideas.
He levelled the game at 17 points each in the third minute of added time from a real pressure kick before summoning the courage to find the target again two minutes later.
ST MARY’S: Fintan Ruddy (0-1); Dermot O’Connor, Caolan O’Grady, Conor Darcy; Johnny Martyn (0-1) (Neil Smyth 60), Luke Nicholson, Tony O’Kelly-Lynch; Cian Breheny (0-1), Paul Kilcoyne; Niall McManus (0-1), Rory Guinan (2-2), Jonathan Lynch (0-2); Adam Lynch (Cian McKeon 51), Mark McGoldrick (0-3), Johnny Davey.
DRUMCLIFFE/ROSSES POINT: Ronan McCormack; Tommy Finnegan, John McGowan (David Collins 9), Aaron McCormack; Dara Long, Sean Power, Niall Canning; Brian Monaghan (1-0) (Alan O’Dowd 52), Cian Lally; Neil Ewing (0-1), Eoin Gaughan (1-5), Ciaran McLoughlin; Kevin Davey (1-1), Paul Logan (0-1), Niall Collery (0-1).
Referee: John Gilmartin.