Minors Draw in Cooley
15 Jul 2010
The minors made hard work of this division one league game in the peninsula. Apparently cruising to an easy victory, they were lucky to get out with the draw in the end.
Conal Smyth opened the scoring for the Joes side in the first half and got a second to boot, in between these points, Alan Quigley was on target twice also. Lorcan Doyle goaled before Robert Samson punched over a point. Doyle was then on the mark again with a point from play. This left the Joes three points to the good and it could have been more, after an excellent team move saw Doyle again through on goal, he buried the shot, but was blown up for over carrying. Cooley pulled one back before the break to leave only two points in it.
Half Time Score: St Josephs 1-7, Cooley Kickhams 1-5
The two Jacks, Mulligan and Mc Namee were introduced at half time and both would have a significant impact on the second half, particularly Mulligan. Alan Quigley opened the scoring in the half with a pointed free in the fifth minute, before Jack Mulligan took a fine point from play. But when Cooley goaled the lead was reduced back down to the minimum. Alan Quigley doubled the advantage from play, before he had a shot on goal saved minutes later. Mulligan was again back to fore when he set up Lorcan Doyle, before pointing himself.
With 25 minutes played the Joes still held this four point lead and looked to be full value for their lead and win. You would have been forgiven for thinking that Cooley would need a goal to get back into the game. There fight back started when a 50 was worked in and they pointed from play. This was followed by three points from frees, the third on the 30 minute mark to level up the game. It should be acknowledged that the last two frees were both excellent efforts from distance into the teeth of a stiff wind. The home side had their tails up and looked to be able to drive on for the win and when they scored from play with 32 minutes played this looked the most likely outcome. However, the Joes got a rare break and worked the ball forward for Lorcan Doyle to point and eliminate the Cooley lead within a minute. With time up, this was the final move of the game probably a fair result when all else is considered.
Full Time Score: St Josephs 1-13, Cooley Kickhams 2-10
This result means that the hopes of making the semi finals are still there, as this division has no unbeaten teams and six out the eight teams still in with a chance of finishing in the top four. The last game is next Wednesday at 7.30 in Clogherhead and the reality is that nothing short of a win will give them the chance to play in the semi finals. Best of Luck Lads
Team: Shane Mc Quillan, Chris Brennan, Kieran O Hare, Ciaran Langan, Philip Brennan, Sean Mc Quillan, Daragh Smith, Robert Samson (0-1), Daire Mc Kiernan, Liam O Leary, Alan Lynch, John Mc Kenna, Alan Quigley (0-4), Lorcan Doyle (1-3), Conal Smyth (0-2).
Substitutions: Jack Mulligan (0-2) for John Mc Kenna (HT), Jack Mc Namee for Philip Brennan (HT), Ian Mc Donald for Ciaran Langan, Ciaran Hennigan for Kieran O Hare (inj)
