Crucial goals give St Mel's the edge over St Pat's

21.01.10 | St. Mel's 5-5 St. Pat's Navan 1-12 | By Padraic O'Brien

Showing a lot of character in coming from behind to snatch a hard earned victory by a five point margin in the finish, the St. Mel's U-14 footballers advanced a stage further in the Leinster Colleges Juvenile U-14 'A' Football Championship with crucial goals giving them the edge over St. Pat's of Navan in a close encounter played in difficult conditions at the Kinnegad grounds on Thursday last.

While the physically stronger St. Pat's team enjoyed the better of the exchanges, they were guilty of some very poor finishing and particularly so in the first half when they had the advantage of the stiff wind and ended up trailing by two points at the break, 3-2 to 1-6.

While the Navan school got off to a flying start with a Graham Nelson point and a 5th minute goal from full-forward Robbie McDonnell, St. Mel's hit back immediately with a brace of goals through James Heffernan and Larry Moran that laid the foundations for their eventual success and next up is the north Leinster final against St. Mary's, Mullingar or St. Joseph's, Rochfortbridge.

Those decisive scores materialised in less than sixty seconds and a well struck point followed from Daryl Carrigy in the 7th minute to put the pressure firmly on St. Pat's. Although they closed the gap with a fisted point from Graham Nelson, the Meath outfit suffered another big blow when conceding a third goal in the 21st minute.

Shane McCormack, after doing well to keep the ball in play, created the chance for Sean Clarke to find the back of the net from close range and St. Mel's added another point to their first half tally when James Heffernan was on target in the 29th minute.

However, St. Pat's had closed the gap with points from Niall Lyons (free), Jerome McLoughlin and Robbie McDonnell (2) and midfielder Lyons was denied a goal in the opening minute of the second half when St. Mel's keeper Alan Sorohan, despite getting injured, managed to produce a great save in deflecting the ball over the bar but the Clonguish lad was eventually forced to retire.

St. Pat's went on to enjoy a dominant spell which yielded four more points through Jack Gore (2), McDonnell and Padraig McGowan and looked the likely winners as they led by 1-11 to 3-2 entering the final quarter of the contest.

But the spirited St. Mel's team (coached by Fr. Joe McGrath) just refused to accept defeat and after they finally registered their first score of the second half when Daryl Carrigy surged forward to shoot over the bar in the 49th minute, the boys in blue were back in front moments later when Niall Kelly punished a mistake to grab a vital goal.

Although St. Pat's levelled matters with a disputed point from substitute Ben Hoey when his shot looked wide, St. Mel's kept their composure to strike the killer blow when Shane McCormack scored his sides fifth and final goal in the 55th minute and a point apiece followed from James Heffernan and Sean Farrell to put the issue beyond all doubt.

ST. MEL'S: Alan Sorohan (Clonguish); Rory Sullivan (St. James, Ardagh/Moydow), Adrian Duffy (Longford Slashers), Shane Kelly (Longford Slashers); Brian Rooney (Longford Slashers), Fergal Keenan (St. James), Ronan Sweeney (Clonguish); Niall Kelly (Longford Slashers, 1-0), Kryspin Pliszdynski (St. James); Sean Farrell (St. James, 0-1), Daryl Carrigy (St. James (0-2), Shane McCormack (Kilglass Gaels, 1-0); Larry Moran (Killoe, 1-0), James Heffernan (Kilglass Gaels, 1-2), Sean Clarke (Longford Slashers, 1-0).

SUBS USED:- Jason Wykes (Longford Slashers) for A Sorohan (injured, 42 mins); Dessie Reynolds (Sean Connolly's, 44 mins).

ST. PAT'S: Dylan Kenny; Brian McGrath, Ross McLarney, Cillian Farrell; Conor Doyle, Declan McGuinness, Neil O'Kane; Niall Lyons (0-2, one free), Eamon Sheridan; Jerome McLoughlin (0-1), Jack Gore (0-2), Graham Nelson (0-2); Padraig McGowan (0-1), Robbie McDonnell (1-3), Chris O'Neill.

SUB USED:- Ben Hoey (0-1).

REFEREE: Seamus Rock (Kinnegad), the former Ballymahon footballer.

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