GAA - St Mary's shine bright under Friday Night Lights
Ward Cup Quarter-final St Mary’s shine bright under Friday night lights St Mary’s Limavady 3-08 Coláiste Ailigh, Letterkenny 0-07
Steven Doherty reports from Celtic Park
St.Mary’s Limavady have progressed to the semi-final of the Ward Cup, producing a big second half showing to defeat a defensive and spirited Coláiste Ailigh at Celtic Park on Friday night. At a point down in a low scoring and lifeless first half, St Mary’s nervously jogged towards the half-time changing rooms and could well have been forgiven for thinking this was not their night. While the Limavady men dominated both possession and territory they struggled to break down their opponent’s heavily populated defensive shape. And in attack their collective shooting radars were badly skewed. Coláiste Ailigh were much more economical when they raided forward, and clinical finishing from their limited chances left them 0-04 to 0-03ahead at the break. St Mary’s were a different proposition after the break. With the strong words of coach Chrissy McKaigue ringing in their ears, the Limavady school produced somewhere near their best and blew away their feisty but limited opponents. The Donegal school burst out of the blocks under Celtic Park’s Friday night lights. Michael Sweeney opened the scoring for them as they looked to grasp the initiative from the first whistle. Indeed, had St Mary’s goalkeeper Dylan Moore not produced a stunning save in the 4th minute and Sean Butcher dived to block another goal effort soon after, Coláiste Ailigh could have been out of sight. The Limavady lads settled after that early blitz. Martin McGonigle, wearing No. 11 but operating in all sectors between the two ‘45s, began to get on the ball and dictate their tempo. But despite taking the game to their opposition, St Mary’s struggled to work the scoreboard throughout a misfiring opening thirty minutes. Coláiste Ailigh defended in a very ‘Donegal’ style and the Derry men failed to burst any real holes in that defence and found themselves dallying down dead alleyways and snatching at long range pot shots. It took until the 10th minute before an Oisin Hasson free opened their account, and until the 25th minute when the same player scored St Mary’s second point of the contest. It was stuttering stuff, so unlike the same flair they have thrived on this season. The arrival of impact sub Anthony McGuinness mid-way through the first half finally offered St Mary’s a more direct option, and McGuinness himself tapped over his side’s third score of the evening. Coláiste Ailigh’s quick counters, and their ability to dissect the post, particularly through Maitís Mc Kelvey free kick expertise, saw them run in a point to the good at the break.
Half-time 0-04 - 0-03
An Anthony McGuinness goal, soon after the restart, was the perfect nerve-settler for St Mary’s and their management duo who anxiously patrolled the Celtic Park sidelines over the hour. It gave them the lead for the first time in the contest and finally threw the gauntlet down to their opponents – this is what we can do! After that the game transformed dramatically. St Mary’s, now quick and direct, were also deadly. Midfielder Conor McGuinness typified the new look St Mary’s approach. The Faughanvale club man’s penchant for attacking Coláiste Ailigh at the very heart of their defence, and at serious pace, caused chaos during the second half. McGuinness led the way but, taking his lead, St Mary’s raided forward continually from all sectors of Celtic Park. Paddy O’Kane from half back, Jack McGonigle and Martin McGonigle from a talented half forward line forged at Brolly Park in Glack, and corner back Jamie McLaughlin all rampaged into enemy territory and made serious gains. Mark Creane, industrious and lively all night, scored St Mary’s second goal of the game in the 40th minute, pouncing on a high dangerous ball in from Paddy O’Kane – a move straight out of the Damian Barton 2016 handbook. Points from Conor and Kyle McGuiness stretched St Mary’s lead to 2-07 to six points by the 50th minute. And where the Limavady school was inaccurate with their shooting in the first half, they couldn’t miss in the second. Oisin Hasson’s booming big left foot converted several monster free kicks which snuffed out any lingering hopes the Letterkenny lads may have harboured of a fight back. Curtis O’Hara – another from the Faughanvale production line of talented prospects - finished off the night’s scoring and finished off his opponents when his 58th minute rocket nearly took the roof off the net, the goal assisted by St Mary’s key men McGonigle and McGuinness.
McKaigue backs his players
St Mary’s coach Chrissy McKaigue, a man no stranger to big games at Celtic Park, spoke to the County Derry Post straight after his side’s triumph. Behind at half-time after an anaemic first half display, what was said at the break? “A good old fashioned rollicking” he said, with a smile. “I think we weren’t expecting Coláiste Ailigh to be as defensive as they were so it probably took us by shock. We missed a couple of shots. Now we were under pressure taking them but you still need to be scoring them. “To go in at 0-4-0-3 down at half-time you never really expect that at this grade. It was a bit of a shock to the system. But to be fair to the boys they re-focussed well. They produced a very good second half the way we want to play – at pace. Because this team suits attacking football I’m going to play the way we suit. That didn’t happen in the first half, but we improved in the second.” McKaigue acknowledged that perhaps a mixture of the big provincial occasion and the defensive nature of their opponents conspired to produce a disjointed first 30 minutes from a school just finding its feet on the bigger stages of school’s football. “It took them a while to adjust. We have a very small pool of players. We are pooling from fourth year, fifth year, lower sixth and upper sixth. We have only 24 players across the four age groups that are at that level to play so it’s hard. But having said that there is a pool of players that is fantastic. So if we keep progressing, please God, we can get into a final.”
But when St Mary’s clicked, they really clicked. And at the back, big rangy full-back Harry McLaughlin appears to have all the tools to make it to the top – talented, safe hands, and an uncanny ability to turn over ball with his tackling. “Aye. We have some fantastic players there on the front foot” agreed McKaigue. “But I thought defensively there we were superb too – the tackling, the blocking, the positioning and awareness. And they were cramping up there in the end which is always a good thing for a manager to see. I think the barometer of our team is when we work hard with that attitude we are very hard to beat. We were a bit lacklustre, and dare I say, lazy in the first half we’re a different team. So I’m happy with the attitude more than anything.”
St Mary’s: Dylan Moore, Jamie McLaughlin, Harry McLaughlin, Sean Butcher, Conal McFeely, Daniel O’Kane, Paddy O’Kane, Conor McGuinness, Ben Deery, Jack McGonigle, Marty McGonigle, Curtis O’Hara, Kyle McGuinness, Oisin Hassan, Mark Creane Subs: Anthony McGuinness for B Deery (25), Ian Duddy for P O’Kane (54), Fintan Curley for S Butcher (60)