CALRY/ST JOSEPH'S win in the Belfry Senior Championship following a 4 point victory over St. John's on Sunday last at Scarden.
In an eagerly anticipated game Calry/St Joseph's were the victor's in this nail biting contest on Sunday last.
Calry St Joseph's settled first and when Michael Flynn was fouled, Eoin Doherty pointed the first score with a close range free. Charlie Harrison was named at corner forward but operated in a free roll. However Jonathan McGoldrick was deployed to man mark the former All Star and this tactic worked very effectively for the Calry St Joseph's side and seemed to stifle the attack of the St John's lads.
Both sides swapped wides but with Calry being the more dominant in the midfield area, Damien O'Boyle stepped up to score a long-range point following good build-up from Conor Griffin.
Griffin was operating in a one man full forward line but the delivery into him seemed to be slow and this was punished when St. John's levelled the game with two points, one from Brian McGowan and one from Tommy Kelly on 12 minutes. Conor Griffin was quick to respond however with an excellent score from play to put Calry back in front by one.
Calry got the next two scores, the first one an excellent score from Darragh Cummins who just returned from injury following excellent build up play from Brian Cox. Eoin Doherty then set up Paddy Woulfe for a fine score to put 3 points between the sides.
St John's hit a purple patch then with 4 unanswered points, three coming from David Rooney (1 free) and one from James Murphy. Calry very lucky not to concede a goal at this point when is short kickkout was intercepted but unfortunately for the St Johns forward he saw his fisted attempt go agonisingly wide of an open goal.
For all their dominance and possession Calry found themselves 06-05 down at the break.
A monstrous free from the Sligo goalkeeper Aiden Devaney from all of 55 meters levelled the scores early in the second half, but this was almost immediately cancelled out with a free from Brian McGowan for St Johns.
The St Johns half forward line of McGowan, Rooney and Kelly were proving to be a handful for the Calry defence at this time (and indeed they would finish the game between them with 9 of St John's 10 scores!)
Brian McGovern pointed from play for Calry to level the game again before McGowan and Doherty exchanged points with a 45 and a free. Darragh Cummins and Eoin Doherty put Calry 2 points clear before the Calry management decided to freshen up the attack by bringing in dual star Keith Raymond for Paddy Woulfe. Brian McGovern pointed again to put 3 between the sides before Adrian Cummins picked up a clumsy second yellow card and reduced the Calry men to 14 with 15 minutes left to play.
A free from David Rooney pulled it back to 2 and when Shane Stenson replaced Alan Keane, the pendulum seemed to be swinging in favour of the St John's lads.
This was even more evident moments later when Damien O'Boyle received his second yellow to reduce the Calry lads down to 13 with 13 minutes left to play. This seemed to galvanize the Calry lads and when the St John's bench were penalised by ref , John Doyle, the Calry lads seemed to regain their composure.
A good move involving Nicholson and Griffin saw Keith Raymond deliver a pinpoint 50m pass to the raiding Michael Flynn who finished to the net with minutes to go.
In a frantic closing 8 minutes, St John's tried to reduce the deficit but an insurance point from Aaron Flynn with a superb assist from Brian Cox ensured that the Calry men would march on to the knockout stages of the championship.
In the closing minutes Connor Green of St John's got his marching orders for a second yellow while Conall Stenson replaced Brian McGovern on the Calry team.
Final score
Calry St Joseph's 1:12
St John's 0:10
Calry/St Joseph's
Aidan Devaney (1), Eoin Nicholson, Vincent Nally, Adrian Cummins, Brian Cox, Michael Flynn, (1 goal) Jonathan McGoldrick, Damian O'Boyle(1), Barry O'Boyle, Brian McGovern(2), Darragh Cummins(2), Patrick Woulfe(1), Conor Griffin (1) (Capt), Aaron Flynn (1), Eoin Doherty (3f), Ryan O'Hanlon, Eamonn MacHale, Danny Keown, Niall Stenson, Brian Shannon, James Mc donagh, Ciarán Stenson , Conor McGovern, Keith Raymond, Connal Stenson, Gearoid Keaney, Mark Fowley, Paddy Herity.
St John's
Noel O'Donnell, Daniel Smith, Enda Roche(Capt), Niall Walsh, Neal Hayes, Óisín Cox, Robert Fahy, James Murphy (1), David Burke, Brian McGowan(4,2f) David Rooney (4,2f) , Tommy Kelly (1),
Conor Greene, Shane Stenson, Charlie Harrison, Conor McGovern, Phelim Murphy, Paul McNamara, Paul McLean, Mark Rooey, Alan Keane, Ryan McManus,
Cían Hough, Cathal Jordan, Fiachra Brennan, Jamie Grehan, Andy Kerr.