A barrage of seven points within the opening twelve minutes of this encounter saw Carryduff establish a firm grip on this game – a grip they were never to relinquish! Ronan Lawlor converted first minute free from an acute angle our on the right hand side of the Carryduff attack was followed by points from Michael McGrath (2nd), Ronan Beattie (free, 4th) Owen McCabe (8th and 9th) Joe McFlynn (11th) and excellent long range point from Ronan Beattie.
Two converted frees from Chris McKay (13th) and Conor Morgan (15th) raised some voice from the travelling support but those were quickly negated as Daniel Guinness (18th) and Ronan Lawlor (free, 20th) re-established Carryduff’s seven point lead. Carryduff’s Joe McFlynn picked up a yellow card between scores.
To a man, Carryduff’s full back line were putting in a very accomplished shift and mopping up any ball that St. John’s managed to press into their inner forward line, instilling a sense of control into the home side. Disciplined tackling saw two further efforts from St. John’s result in enough pressure to see St John’s register two more wides from what attacks they managed to muster. Jonny Henry (23rd) and Daniel Guinness (26th) kicked wide of the target as Carryduff continued their attacks. Chris McKay converted a St. John’s free (27th) to leave Carryduff with a six point advantage at the break Carryduff 0-09 St. John’s 0-03.
The second half opened with an injection of pace from St. John’s. Corner back Neill McGowan picked up a yellow card (2nd) for a heavy challenge and Conor Morgan pointed the resultant free. St. Johns Chris McKay collected a yellow card 4 minutes into the half as the Carryduff full-back line continued to deprive the big corner forward of possession. James Guinness pointed for Carryduff five minutes into the half and kicked wide a few minutes later as Carryduff pressed the St. John’s defence. Joe McFlynn extended the lead (40th) .
Daniel McKay managed another conversion for St.John’s in the 42nd minute but Carryduff sustained the pressure and Adian Brannigan (44th) and Peter lavery (47th) added further scores from play amongst a number of other shots that drifted wide of the target. Conor Morgan’s converted free (48th) for St. John’s was cancelled by Joe McFlynn’s conversion (53rd) as Carryduff doggedly stuck to their task. Chris McKay (53rd) added what was to be St. John’s final score of the game and the visitors were in trouble having been reduced to fourteen men after a striking offence.
Joe McFlynn’s converted 45metre free (57th) and James Guiness’s point from play (59th) were the highlights of the dying moments of the game during which whistler, Damian Laverty issued a number of yellow cards to keep order as frustrations became more manifest.
Carryduff supporters and management were content with a workman-like performance across the entire 60 minutes and a final scoreline of Carryduff 0-16 St John’s 0-07.
The Carryduff tem was;- Mark Hynes, Seamus McCann, Donal McKeever, Neill McGowan, Conor McCullough, Josh Connery, Ruairí Boyle, Jonny Henry, Aidan Brannigan, Ronan Lawlor, Joe McFlynn, Daniel Guinness, Ronan Beattie, Owen McCabe, Michael McGrath.
Substitutes;- James Guinness (for R Beattie, 30), Peter lavery (for R Boyle, 37), Darragh Connolly (for R Lawlor, 50), Paddy McConnell (for D Guinness, 52)
The St. John’s team was;- Darren Morgan, Aodhan Morgan, Harry McMullan, Mark Grant, Jonathan Addis, Conor Flannagan, Ryan Flannagan, Joe Milligan, Conor Morgan, Hugh Flannagan, Ryan Gibney, John Clarke, Chris McKay.
Referee;- Damian Laverty
Written by : Paul McConville
