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Wed 11th Nov 2009
ABBEY CBS 3-2
ST PAT'S ARMAGH 0-7
The Abbey grabbed an important victory against St Pat's Armagh in a day where it was near impossible to get a good game of football flowing.
The Abbey were the first to score with a typically accurate free from Patrick Quinn on his left foot. It took almost 7 minutes after this for Armagh to score an equaliser.
Patrick Quinn's trickery and agility were causing problems for the Armagh defence before setting up the ever energetic Ryan Hudson for a goal.
At this stage the Abbey were grabbing the bull by the horns and really pressurising the Armagh defence with Quinn's skills being too much for the Armagh defence as he once again set up Ryan Hudson for another goal.
Armagh hit the Abbey with a fast moving counter attack which had the defence temporarily back-pedalling which resulted in the Armagh full forward taking a good score for the home team.
The game looked to be well in the control of the Abbey men as the ball fell on the floor for Kilcoo man, James McClean, to rifle home the ball, into the top corner.
Much of the Abbey dominance was due to the solidarity in defence as the likes of Armagh Minor, James Morgan, and Ryan Hudson's twin brother, David Hudson, showed great strength in carrying the ball out of defence. David Hudson appears to be playing well for the Newry team and rival teams will surely hope his fine form doesn't continue.
Centre-Half Forward, Niall O'Neill, for the Abbey was at his creative best as he was at the centre of every attacking move the Newry lads created. His vision and work rate looked too much for the Armagh side to handle.
St Pat's were 3-1 to 0-2 down before some great strength from their centre-half back resulted in a hard earned point just before the half time whistle.
The second half proved to be a more scrappy affair as Armagh were knocking on the Abbey door and a fine individual point from Armagh's high leaping midfielder, Andrew Murnin, signalled their intent.
A great drive out of defence, from all the way in the full back line, from James Morgan eventually resulted in a score. Morgan brushed aside four tackles before spilling the ball and then very calmly flicking the ball up, to Abbey captain Michael Clark who pumped the ball into Quinn who won a free and put it over with his sharp shooting left foot. This would be the Abbey's last score of the game.
With Armagh grabbing more of a foothold in the game, their defence had improved significantly with Cullyhanna man, Colm Hoey, keeping the Abbey danger man Quinn quiet in the later parts of the half.
The Newry men were starting to find it difficult to deal with the strength and accuracy of Pádraig Rafferty as he took another score after shaking off a challenge before putting over a marvellous free kick from a fair distance.
The Abbey defence were giving it their all as the hard-working Magee, top class McGovern, ever eccentric Morgan and tough-tackling Toner, assured that Armagh didn't steal the game away from the Abbey.
With a minute left to play, Armagh had the chance to win it. As a ball was whipped into a crowded Abbey box, an Armagh paw clawed at the ball with some force which needed some lightening fast reactions from goalkeeper, John McCullagh, to tip the ball onto the crossbar.
Literally half a second later from the ball that rebounded off the bar after McCullagh's save, McCullagh was forced into action again as he rapidly dived to stop a rebounded shot from flying into the bottom corner. The Abbey defence were more than thankful for the sheer heroics of the man guarding their goal.
Due to the conditions it was very difficult for both sides to show thier footballing potential but the Abbey deserved their hard fought victory which they needed after a disappointing result against local rivals St Colman's College.
Both teams will be looking forward to their next challenge in the hope they can fully display their footballing potential.
Submitted by: Mike McGovern
