Bank of Ireland Ulster Colleges MacRory Cup Quarter-final Replay

 

Clarke finishes off Newry Giants

 

St. Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel 2-03

St. Colman’s College, Newry 0-08

 

After producing a quarter-final, full of passion, drama and excitement, the previous Saturday, the giants of Ulster Colleges gaelic football, St. Colman’s College, Newry, returned to Newcastle to do battle with the ‘newcomers’, St. Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel. Another bumper crowd turned out and were not dissapointed, as these two Down colleges fought another tense encounter, with very little separating them at any stage in the game.

Lessons from the first game would have been discussed on the training grounds, with St. Louis perhaps feeling that their players would have to ‘up their game’ and perform to the level expected of them. Certainly both Steven McVeigh and Niall McAleenan would reshuffle their charges, but even they couldn’t legislate for the flu bug that would confine three of their key players to their beds for the best part of a week. Although, Peter Fitzpatrick and Hugh Magee made some sort of recovery, from their ills, St. Louis captain Martin Clarke was a serious doubt up to the throw-in. Cathal Murray and Mickey Doyle also had their problems and lost the services of their captain Conor McConville through an injury picked up in the drawn encounter. However, as both teams took to the field there was no doubt that every player was focussed on the battle that lay ahead.

Right from the throw-in, it was clear that St. Louis had sorted out their problems in the middle of the park, as Kevin Quinn and Peter Fitzpatrick quickly imposed themselves on their St. Colmans’s Colm Carty and Niall McDonald. It took just more than two minutes for the Kilkeel side to open the scoring and it was a moment of sheer brilliance from flu victim, Martin Clarke. Despite being poorly the young Down Minor star summed up enough energy to shake off the attentions of two Newry defenders to crash home a goal past the outstretched Ciaran Boyce.

Although this score lifted the hearts of the St. Louis boys, the game quickly returned to the ‘cat and mouse’play of the previous week. St. Louis, looking more fluent with their play, had claims to a number of poor refereeing decisions which denied them more scores in the opening quarter. However, the Newry boys eventually came into the game with young Ryan Boyle and Michael McCartan setting up a few attacks for St. Colman’s. Perhaps in a mirror image of the previuos encounter, St. Colman’s discovered that their shooting boots were certainly not with them again. Misses from Gary Boyle, Conor Óg O Hagan, Michael McCartan would eventually prove very costly at the end of the game. Yet it was St. Louis who would get the next score of the game, when Peter Fitzpatrick went on a solo run that saw him being fouled several times before he kicked the ball from the ground over the Newry crossbar.

The contests around the pitch were intriguing with John Fitzpatrick looking more at home at centre-half back marshalling the threat posed by Gary Boyle, whilst Gerard McEntee certainly looked more comfortable with the energetic Christopher Killen after enduring a hard time in the drawn match. Conor Óg O’Hagan was now being well controlled by Andrew Sloan, and Donal Kearney was assigned the uneviable task of double marking Martin Clarke. Like a game of chess, this encounter was controlled with considerable foresight and anticipation from the opposing benches.

One of the highlights of the opening half was the quality of a pass from Luke Toner, who threaded a ball to perfection through a crowded St. Colman’s defence to find Peter Fitzpatrick, but the big Ballymartin midfielder, found Ciaran Boyce ready for the one-on-one contest and bravely saved what looked like a certain goal. This save was crucial as a second St. Louis goal at this stage would surely have killed off the Newry teams challenge.

Such was the quality of the defensive units on both sides that fifteen minutes would elapse until Gary Boyle registered St. Colman’s first score of the game, with a point from a free. However, with Kilkeel forwards Gary Trainor, Christopher Killen and in particular Luke Toner, working a lot harder to compensate for the flu induced lethargic Martin Clarke, St. Colman’s found it hard to get continuous passage of play going. The usually reliable boot of Martin Clarke missed a free to keep the game alive as a contest, before Chris Carroll fired over two points for St. Colman’s to put the pressure back on to the Kilkeel school as the half-time whistle drew near. An opportunity to level the game fell to Colm Carty but great pressure from FergalDoyle, ensured that the St. Colman’s midfielder’s shot would drift harmlessly wide of the mark, to leave St. Louis a point up at the break. Half-time score St. Louis 1-1 St. Colman’s 0-3.

The half-time dicussions in both camps must have been intense affairs, with St. Colman’s needing to sharpen up their shooting boots, whilst St. Louis must have been refuel the depleted energy levels of their flu victims. At the recommecement of play it was obvious that Steven McVeigh and Niall McAleenan had recharged the energy levels of the Kilkeel players as they looked more comfortable on the ball in most sectors of the field.

Martin Clarke opening the scoring with a well taken point from a free, whilst at the Colm Watters other end of the field Colm Watters could only agonise as his attempt from a free drifted wide of the mark. Scoring would certain be gold dust in this encounter as Gerad McCartan, Fergal Doyle and John Fitzpatrick proved resilient on the Kilkeel ’45. With Conor Casey and Miceal McCartan roming off their own ’45, It was up to Christopher Morgan and Patrick Bourke to work harder to meet the Newry challenge. Both Kilkeel players did their duty to great effect and in turn, supplied some effective passes up to Martin Clarke who had now taken up residence at the edge of the St. Colman’s square, still with two Newry guards on his tail.

St. Colman’s soon adopted a longer ball strategy in an attempt to crack the St. Louis defence and it paid some dividends with points from Ryan Watt, and Chris Carroll, from a free kick. However, solid defending, especcially from St. Louis corner-backs Andrew Sloan and Stephen Rafferty, kept the Newry threat down to a minimum.

Martin Clarke was now effectively working in phases of play to conserve his energy, but the quality of the phases were proving very decisive to the outcome of this contest. The large crowd and the later television audience, could only marvel at the nature of a point he scored as he collected the ball in front of the main stand on the ’45, leaving his oponents scrambling at air as he launched an amazing shot over the St. Colman’s bar.

Martin Clarke was also a key factor in the decisive move of the game ten minutes from the end, as Peter Fitzpatrick sent a long ball through to the An Riocht man, who turned to terrorise the St. Colman’s defence. He weaved his way along the Newry end line only to spot the unmarked Patrick Bourke on the far side of the Newry goalmouth. The tall Rostrevor lad made no mistake has Clarke’s excellent pass landed in front of his clenched fists, and he punched the ball so hard that hit almost ripped the St. Colman’s net.

St. Colman’s could easily have folder at this point, but in keeping with the nature of this close tie, the Newry lads rallied and came back at their Kilkeel counterparts. They responded with two points from Conor Óg O’Hagan, but the determination of the Kilkeel defence ensured that St. Louis would hold out. Unfortunate for the Newry school, they lost the services of defender Ryan Boyle who broke his collar bone in a collision with Peter Fitzpatrick, five minutes from the end. At the other end of the pitch, a point blank save by Gavin Joyce from Ryan Watt and another save which saw the Ballymartin ‘keeper tip a Chris Carroll effort over the bar proved crucial as St. Louis held out for a famous victory over their more illustrious opponents from Newry.

However, the real winner in this contest must be football and inparticular, Down football. The qulaity of the play offered up by these young men to the 4,000 crowd augurs well for the future of football in Down and with the Abbey CBS already making their way into final, thanks to a two goal victory over St. Mary’s Magherfelt, Down colleges are once again making their pressence felt on the Ulster Colleges scene.

St. Louis now go on to meet the winners of the Omagh CBS/ St. Michael’s Enniskillen quarter-final repaly on Wedenesday week at a venue yet to be confirmed, giving St. Louis a chance to lick their wounds a nurse back to health their flu victims.

 

St. Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel;

Gavin Joyce (Ballymartin), Stephen Rafferty (Bryansford), Hugh Magee (Longstone), Andrew Sloan (Attical), Gerard McCartan (Rostrevor), John Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin), Fergal Doyle (An Riocht), Kevin Quinn (Attical), Peter Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin) 0-1, Christopher Morgan (Attical), Martin Clarke (An Riocht) 1-2, Patrick Bourke (Rostrevor) 1-0, Christopher Killen (An Riocht), Gary Trainor (Longstone), Luke Toner (Castlewellan).

 

Substitutes ; Shaun Trainor (Longstone) for Gary Trainor, Colm Curran (Bryansford), Ryan Sloan (Attical), Kieran Sloan (Attical), Alan McDonald (Bryansford), Stephen Cousins (Bryansford), Dominic Trainor (Attical), Liam O’Hare (Ballymartin), Aidan Gallagher (Warrenpoint), Liam Harper (An Riocht), Conor Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin), Ryan O’Hare (Ballymartin), Eamon Quinn (An Riocht), Luke Byrne (Bryansford) injured.

 

Coaches Steven McVeigh (Warrenpoint), Niall McAleenan (Castlewellan)

St. Colman’s College, Newry;

Ciaran Boyce (Tyholland), Ryan Boyle (Warrenpoint), Ciaran Murtagh (Bosco), Gerard McEntee ( Burren), Conor Casey (Cullyhanna), Gareth Small (An Riocht), Miceal McCartan (Leitrim), Colm Carty (Warrenpoint), Niall Mc Donald (St. Brigit’s), Colm Watters (Culloville) 0-1, Gary Boyle (Warrenpoint) 0-1, Donal Kearney (Warrenpoint), Chris Carroll (Burren) 0-4, Ryan Watt (Rostrevor), Conor Óg O’Hagan (Clonduff) 0-2.

 

Substitutes ; Ryan McGovern (Burren), PJ Maguire (Cullaville), Ryan Rocks (Bosco), Michael Boyce (Tyholland), Anton Haughey (Bosco), Rauri Murdock (Burren), Stephen McQuillan (Lamh Dearg), Daniel O’Connell (Roche Emmett’s), Colm Kelly (Dromara), Aaron Strain (Mayobridge), Karl Maxwell (Burren), Daniel Fearon (Shane O’Neills), Declan Kavanagh (Dundrum) and Anthony Donnan (Rostrevor)

 

Coaches; Cathal Murray (Clonduff), Michael Doyle (Leitrim)