St Louis v Abbey CBS
St. Louis Edge the Abbey
Bank of Ireland Ulster Colleges MaCrory/McCormack Cup Group A
St. Louis Triumph in Local Colleges Derby
St. Louis Grammar School , Kilkeel 0-11
Abbey CBS, Newry 0-10
The build-up to this fixture added to the appeal of this MacRory Cup game, as both schools were unbeaten in their opening games. The Abbey had been installed as favourites as they had notched up high scores in their victories over St. Pat’s Maghera and St. Michael’s Enniskillen. However, the underdogs from Kilkeel had been fairly impressive in their opening games, with wins over Enniskillen and MacRory Cup holders and this seasons favourites- Omagh CBS. It was the first ever meeting of these two schools at this level and the fixture was certainly earmarked by the local Gaels as a large crowd turned up at Moygannon Park in Warrenpoint.
St. Louis had always claimed that they had a small panel to choose from and Kilkeel coach Steven McVeigh would find it hard to replace two influential Down Minors, out through injury. The Abbey, managed by current Down coach Jody Gormley, quickly got into their stride and certainly looked the more lively of the sides in the opening ten minutes. Although St. Louis had opened the scoring, through a point from Christopher Morgan, the St. Louis forwards were finding the going rather tough as the Abbey defence played very close attention to their Mourne opponents. The half forward line of Gary Trainor, Martin Clarke and Patrick Bourke were also guilty of overplaying the ball and in doing so, starving Christopher Killen and Luke Toner of decent supply. Indeed, the Abbey had given Down Minor Kevin McKernan the job of man-marking Martin Clarke and although the Burren lad was doing a good job with the early exchanges, his job was becoming increasingly difficult as the An Riocht star began to find his bearings.
St. Louis were also struggling at mid-field, with Kevin Quinn and stand-in mid-fielder John Fitzpatrick struggling against Armagh Minor Captain Kevin Dyas and Richard Gilmore. St. Louis had been forced to field in this local derby without the presence of influential All-Ireland Down Minor stars, Peter Fitzpatrick and Gerard McCartan, both through injury. The Abbey opened their account through two points, both from frees, deliver through the accurate boot of Cathal Magee of Mayobridge. The st . Louis defence were really feeling the pressure but gradually asserted themselves on to their Newry opponents. Ryan Sloan, Hugh Magee and Luke Byrne in the Kilkeel full-back line were on top form as they kept the Abbey threat under some form of control.
The Abbey went further ahead with points from Cathal Murney and Kevin Dyas, to build up a lead, but the Mourne lads were slowly beginning to find their stride. A heavy tackle by Darren Roland, for which the Armagh minor received a yellow card, on Christopher Morgan allowed the reliable boot of Martin Clarke to narrow the gap from the resulting free. The earlier threat from the Abbey midfield was also showing signs of wavering as Kevin Quinn and John Fitzpatrick asserted themselves in that area. Andrew Sloan was also posing a threat to the Abbey defence as he got the measure of Down Minor Colm Murney and began to penetrate the sturdy Abbey half back line of Darren Roland, Kevin McKernan and Ciaran Coffey. However, missed opportunities from Christopher Killen, Gary Trainor and Luke Toner increased the pressure on the Mourne defence.
Further points from Seamus Grant and Rauri Cunningham strengthened the Abbey’s position as the break drew near, but the St. Louis defence, well marshalled by Fergal Doyle was becoming meaner, stifling the Newry attack. However, the Kilkeel forwards were beginning to show some of the flair that had seen them through matches so far. The Abbey defence were now being stretched and the Kilkeel attack drew out some fouls. A needlessly rash tackle by Mark Digney on Christopher Killen allowed Luke Toner to narrow the gap as he slotted over the resultant free. Indeed the gap could have been narrowed further but another Luke Toner free went narrowly wide. The Abbey finished the half on a high note with a Richard Gilmore point to leave the Newry school with a commanding five point lead – St. Louis 0-3, Abbey CBS 0-8.
St. Louis coaches Steven McVeigh and Niall McAleenan, both former Abbey players, were glad to see the break to recharge the fortunes of their team. However, the Abbey management team of Jody Gormley and Sean Gallagher, were perhaps regretting the fact that their team were not further ahead. There is no doubt that the Newry lads had dominated the first half, but the reaction and tactical changes taking place in the Kilkeel changing room would be central to the pulsating second half that lay ahead.
The team talk at the break obviously had a greater impact for St. Louis than the Abbey. Although the Abbey extended their lead to six points with a Seamus Grant effort early in the second half, the signs were there to be seen that St. Louis had regrouped, rethought their strategy and were now beginning to dominate many aspects of the game. Fergal Doyle had now joined Kevin Quinn at midfield and they controlled the game much to the frustration of Dyas and Gilmore. John Fitzpatrick had now returned to his usual role on the ’45 much to the frustration of Seamus Grant.
However, it was the efforts of Martin Clarke which ignited the Kilkeel revival. With Kevin McKernan fighting a courageous lone battle to contain the Down star, it was only a matter of time before this Kilkeel side would narrow that gap. Although Martin Clarke missed an early opportunity from a free he pointed his next free. The Kilkeel attack was now in full flow, with Luke Toner, Christopher Killen and Gary Trainor, all causing considerable problems for the Newry school. A superb solo run from Andrew Sloan out of the Kilkeel half-back line, resulted in a fantastic point with cut the Abbey lead down to four points and the large Mourne support sensed it was now ‘Game On’.
Any attack from the Newry school were know being well marshalled by the Kilkeel defence, within which Hugh Magee was leading by example. The considerable threat of Abbey full forward Cathal Magee had now all but disappeared. The introduction of Stephen Rafferty into the Kilkeel defence consolidated their dominance as the Abbey half-forward line retreated further into their own half.
Andrew Sloan fired over another fine point which was quickly followed with a point from Martin Clarke. After some fine passing Gary Trainor fired over a fine shot from the ’45 to leave the bare minimum between the sides. The comeback that Mourne supporters had sensed was completed when Clarke fired over a free after some desperate defending by the Abbey resulted in another free, to level the sides.
In a rare ‘ sortee’ into the Kilkeel defence the Abbey had a major opportunity to seal this game, but a goal chance was well quelled with a fantastic double save from Gavin Joyce in the Kilkeel goals. The Abbey did, however, restore their lead with a point from Rauri Cunningham, but the St. Louis team were in no mood to take this lying down. Playing with growing confidence and equal composure, St. Louis orchestrated the score of the game. A long ball into Martin Clarke, saw the young An Riocht man carry the ball out to the left sideline and from there he launched a mighty shot which sailed clinically over the bar to level the game again.
At this point, the Abbey would surely have settled for a draw as they were now having great difficulty getting out of their own half. However, with four minutes left on the clock, the St. Louis attack were moving the ball along the Abbey rearguard searching for an opportunity to snatch victory. Eventually the ball fell to John Fitzpatrick, now playing at centre half back, who had surged forward to get on the end of a pass and score the point that would seal a historic win for the Kilkeel school.
The win was well earned and well deserved by the Mourne school as they had shown great character and resilience to come back from six points down to win the game by a point. The two points earned against the Abbey means that St. Louis have assured themselves an automatic place in the MacRory Cup Quarter-final Draw in February. This win also sets them up with a possible place in the final of the MacRory league (the McCormick Cup), if the Mourne school can conjure up another victory on Saturday against St. Pat’s of Maghera, which will prove difficult as the South Derry school have a great pedigree in this competition. St. Louis will be hoping that Gerard McCartan and Peter Fitzpatrick back in their ranks for this final group game. However, the Kilkeel school’s approach to this competition has been to ‘take one game at a time’, and they must surely be happy with this approach as it stands as the Mourne boys continue to impress.
St. Louis squad;
Gavin Joyce (Ballymartin), Ryan Sloan (Atticall), Hugh Magee (Longstone), Luke Byrne (Bryansford), Kieran Sloan (Atticall), Fergal Doyle (An Riocht), Andrew Sloan (Atticall) 0-2, Kevin Quinn (Atticall), John Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin) 0-1,Christopher Morgan (Atticall) 0-1, Martin Clarke (An Riocht) Capt 0-5, Patrick Bourke (Rostrevor), Christopher Killen (An Riocht), Luke Toner (Castlewellan) 0-1, Gary Trainor (Longstone) 0-1.
Subs; Stephen Rafferty (Bryansford) for K Sloan, Colm Curran (Bryansford), Shaun Trainor (Longstone), Alan McDonald (Bryansford), Liam Harper (An Riocht), Conor Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin), Aidan Gallagher (Warrenpoint), Liam O’Hare (Ballymartin), Stephen Cousins (Bryansford), Dominic Trainor (Atticall) and Ryan O’Hare (Ballymartin). Peter Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin) and Gerard McCartan (Rostrevor) injured.
Abbey CBS; Cathal Murdock (Burren), Mark Digney (Shamrocks), Darren Fegan (Mayobridge), Rory Grant ( Clonduff), Darren Rowland (Armagh), Kevin McKernan (Burren) Captain, Ciaran Coffey (Newry Shamrock’s), Kevin Dyas ( Dromintee) 0-1, Richard Gilmore ( Dromara) 0-1, Colm Murney (Rostrevor) 0-1, Seamus Grant (Mayobridge) 0-3, Daniel Clarke (Saval), Niall Devlin (Saval), Cathal Magee (Mayobridge) 0-2, Rauri Cunningham (Newry Shamrocks) 0-1. Sud used; Gerard McGarvey for Rauri Cunningham.