Saints battle to win
ST MARYS ST BRIDES 4-13 0-17
ST. Mary’s won this match by an eight-point margin played in Pairc Mhuire on Friday night. However defensive mistakes and missed chances by St. Brides meant the scoreboard would have looked somewhat different at the final whistle.
St. Brides opened the scoring through Kevin Hearty inside a minute but immediately at the opposite end St. Marys opened their account when Darragh McConnon volleyed to the net having before Darren Clarke tagged on a point to leave his side three points clear.
St. Brides did manage to level proceedings on 14 minutes following points from Hearty (2) and Conaill Devin (2) in reply to another single from Clarke.
However, St. Brides missed a few scorable chances and were punished when a long-range effort rebounded off both uprights into the arms of Jamie Rooney who made no mistake from close range in front of goal as his went in at the break with a 2-8 to 0-9 lead.
Stand in Goalkeeper, Conaill Devin, slotted over his fourth pointed free kick and so reduced the deficit to four points with six minutes to play.
However, any chance of a comeback was quashed when St. Mary’s scored two goals in less than a minute through Mark Fay and Darren Clarke following two mistakes in St. Brides defence. This ended the match as a contest and St. Mary’s saw out an eightpoint win.
ST MARYS: Peter Duffy; Wayne Matthews, Peter Trainor, David Carroll; Kian Moran, Karl Faulkner, Liam Jackson; Joe Mulholland, Robbie Leavy; Ronan Carroll 0-1, Darragh McConnon 1-3, Cian Commins 0-2; Darren Clarke 1-5, Jamie Rooney 1-1, Mark Fay 1-1. Subs: Paudy Clarke for L Jackson, Evan Malone for D McConnon, Conor Gillespie for C Commins, Barry McCoy for K Moran.
ST BRIDES: Conaill Devin (0-4); Ronan Bailey, Cillian Kirk, Padraig Mackin; Mark Hoey, Conor Deane, Michael Keane (0-1); Alan Dunne, Gareth Hall; James Costelloe, Patrick Reilly (0-1), Kevin Hearty (0-3); Sean Marry, Aaron Hoey (0-5), Ross Kehoe (0-3). Subs: Sean Brennan for J Costelloe, Johnny Culleton for S Marry, Liam Molloy for G Hall.