Mary’s ease to big win

ANCHOR TOURS SFC ST MARY’S 0-20 GERALDINES 1-7

THE prospect of relegation may have been on St Mary’s minds going into this Anchor Tours play-off at the Grove on Sunday afternoon, but Sean Barry’s troops didn’t take long to allay those fears with an impressive 10-point win over Geraldines.

The Ardee men were in control from start to finish and unlike their ill-fated clash with Sean O’Mahony’s in the group stages, this time they saw it home quite comfortably.

They opened a three-point to no score lead thanks to a Darren Clarke ‘45’, a free from Conor Gillespie and a point from defender Brendan Matthews.

Ronan Carrol and Gareth Neacy traded points as the Gers opened their account but another score from county man Jim McEneaney failed to rally the troops sufficiently and Mary’s kicked on with five points without reply from Carroll (2), Mark Fay (2) and Darragh McConnon.

Conor Rafferty stoped the rot with a free for Gers, but it was mostly one-way traffic and Gillespie and McConnon made it 0-11 to 0-3.

Neacy popped up with his second score, but Gillespie, McConnon and Carroll brough Mary’s first-half tally to 0-14 before Jim McEneaney pulled one back just before the break, making it 0-14 to 0-5.

Mary’s extended their lead to 10 after the break, but Jack Traynor threw Geraldines a lifeline with a 42nd minute goal.

However, Wayne Callan’s men could make no further inroads in the final quarter as St Mary’s eased to victory and safety.

The Gers on the other hand face a further play-off tussle with Kilkerley to determine who drops down to the intermediate grade next season, but in the meantime they face a similar battle in the league, starting with a stiff test against Naomh Fionnbarra, conquerers of Cooley Kickhams in the intermediate quarter-finals on Sunday afternoon.