DANSKE BANK Mageean Cup

Mageean Cup Final: Match Review 2011

November 26, 2011

Mageean Cup Final: Match Review 2011 : Cross and Passion College 2-3, Ballycastle V St. Marys CBGS Belfast 0-13

They took control from the first whistle but a difficult cross field wind made scoring difficult and they fired a series of wides during the opening ten minutes which must have been a worry to their mentors.

Unfortunately for Ballycastle, the St. Mary’s men were able to readjust their sights to suit the conditions and they began to rake up the points as they camped for the greater part of the opening thirty minutes in the North Antrim College’s half to lead 0-8 to 0-0 at the short whistle. After the break Cross & Passion College, aided by the elements started to get a foothold and a rather fortuitous goal by Conor Christie and another from Saul McCaughan saw them close the gap to three on a couple of occasions but they were never able to push on and take control.

Conor Johnston was the man who steadied the ship for St Mary’s and saw them over the line as he displayed unerring accuracy from his free taking and, significantly the Belfast side were able to notch up 0-5 into the breeze to see them over the finishing line. St Mary’s were the stronger side from start to finish and only really looked in any kind of bother just after each of the Cross & Passion goals. Each of those strikes reeled St Mary’s back to the dangerous three point margin, but each time, Conor Johnston responded with a free to put St Mary’s back on track. In fact the Naomh Eoin clubman scored all their five second half points – only one from play – but the favourites had done enough during the opening half to take control.

They led by 0-8 to 0-0 at the break with 0-3 each from Michael Bradley and Pádraig

Nugent. Johnston ’s jinxing runs contributed tothat, but so too did the midfield Diamond of Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Jackson McGreevy, Michael Bradley and Daragh McGuinness. Ballycastle offered plenty of resistance at the back, where they were under a lot of pressure, but their attempts up front were few and far between.

However that changed at the start of the second half, with Paddy Blaney out at centre-half back and Ryan McCambridge breaking the St Mary’s dominance at midfield.

Cormac McClafferty popped over two frees either side of a long range speculative effort from Conor Christie that went all the way to the net. Ballycastle were back in the game at 0-8 to 1-2 and St Mary’s looked unsettled, epitomised by Pádraig Nugent squandering a couple of chances from scoreable frees.

However Johnston took over the free taking role, hitting three in succession between the 42nd and 48th minutes and St Mary’s were back on track. He added another from play before Cross and Passion broke and Saul McCaughan

fired across goalie Donal Quinn for a fine goal. With five minutes to go, a free from 65 metres by Niall McFadden went over the bar to reduce the margin to three points again. However once more Johnston stepped up to the mark and pointed a free and Cross & Passion’s resistance was broken.

Overall St Mary’s were the dominant side, but the strong cross-field wind forced them to change their style to working the sliotar short and shooting from closer range. They adapted better to the conditions and Ballycastle left themselves far too much work to do after the break. There was no doubting the North Antrim side’s resolve, but overall St Mary’s were the dominant force. They had the majority of the possession, and while they were rattled by the Ballycastle goals, they had that steadying influence up front to push the boat out once more. Conor Johnston collected the Player of the Match award, with corner forward Daniel McKiernan lifting the BT Mageean Cup for the first time since 2008.