The Official Ulster Colleges GAA Website - Sponsored by BT
Tue 13th Oct 2009
St Patricks Armagh vs Garron Tower (8th October 2009 at Sarsfields)
The final match for the Tower in Section A saw the two unbeaten teams face off to see who would win the group. Both had already qualified for the semi-finals. Garron Tower got off to a promising start with a nice 65 yard free from Cahir McNaughton. However from here on in the Tower had little to cheer about as poor tackling and silly frees allowed St Pat’s to have a 0-7 to 0-1 lead by the fifteenth minute (4 of the scores coming from frees).
Then a nice bit of team play, coming straight from a Sean O’Hare puck out and pass from Paul ‘Munchkin’ Monagahan, left this year’s top scorer Conor McGarry with plenty of space to take a point and narrow the deficit to five. Then St Pat’s got another two points which were basically handed to them as two stupid fouls were given away and the way the St Pat’s centre half forward was playing he wasn’t going to miss these. Mr Lismore and Mr McAllister clearly needed a few words at half time, which was a few minutes away, and the Tower didn’t give up as Andy Delargy scored the final Garron Tower point of the half as the ball was played in on the ‘deck’ by wing half forward Philip McKendry and Andy did a good job in scooping it up and striking it high over the black spot from about 40 yards.
Everyone expected the whistle to go but the referee played on and disaster struck as terrible marking in the full back line and no tracking back from the half backs left three, yes three St Pat’s forwards wide open queuing up to take the goal chance made by their big number 11 and one of them connected from 5 yards out leaving it;
St Patricks Armagh 1-9, Garron Tower 0-3 at halftime.
At the start of the second half Padraig Kerr came on to replace Karl Delargy who had been having a poor game by his standards. Garron Tower were slow out of the blocks as St Pat’s got a goal and two points within the first three minutes of the half. We all know the most important time of the match is the first and last five minutes in each half so it didn’t look good for the lads in purple and yellow. Garron Tower didn’t want to go down without at fight and got two scores in a row; one from a Cahir McNaughton free and the other a Conor McGarry point from play. Fionntan O’Connor then came on to add some more scoring threats to the forward line and a disappointed Dom Sharkey made way.
St Pat’s added another point after the change leaving it 2-12 to 0-5 before Eoghan Patterson scored a great goal on the volley from outside the ‘21’ as a 65 by Cahir was dropped in short and Patterson connected perfectly, somehow it went through the crowded box without being touched and into the bottom corner. Matthew White then came off to allow Mick Mulvenna on for the last 15 minutes in corner back. The rest of the game was all St Pat’s as they scored six points until in the dying moments. Padraig Kerr had a great run from midfield being chased all the way by two St Pat’s players and hit the ball over from a tight angle on his left side. Connlaoth McNeill then came on for Philip McKendry and the referee seemed to blow his whistle 3 minutes early before full time but it didn’t matter as the Tower never looked like coming back.
Final score: St Pats 2-18, Garron Tower 1-6
The team all had a talk among themselves after the match to see what they had to do for the next game and it was clear a lot of work had to be done for the big semi-final against Downpatrick next Thursday (15th Oct).
1) Sean O’Hare
2) Matthew White (Michael Mulvenna)
3) Sean Cosgrove
4) Eamonn Kerr
5) Sean Hamilton
6) Dan Kinney
7) Cahir McNaughton
8) Paul Monaghan
9) Eoghan Patterson
10) Dominic Sharkey (Fionntan O’Connor)
11) Karl Delargy (Padraig Kerr)
12) Philip McKendry (Connloth McNeill)
13) Andy Delargy
14) Eamon Heggarty
15) Conor McGarry
Unused subs;
Mick Kane, Blaine Stewart, Chris McCarthy, Ciaran Mulvenna
Submitted by: Seamus McAleenan
