Sharp shooting St Joseph’s secure All-Ireland berth

ST JOSEPH’S DONAGHMORE 3-7   ARDEE COMMUNITY SCHOOL 0-7

A FEW weeks after winning the MacLarnon Cup for the first time, St Joseph’s Donaghmore’s historic season continued at Inniskeen on Saturday afternoon, as they saw off the challenge of Ardee Community School to book their place in the Paddy Drummond Cup Final.

The opening score arrived in the third minute from Ardee corner forward Sean Flynn, but that proved to be the only time that the Louth school would have their noses in front.

Molloy set up Grimes for the equaliser, before the winner’s first goal arrived in the 11th minute. Donaghy supplied the pass to overlapping half back O’Neill and, just as he had done in the MacLarnon Cup Final, he finished to the net in style giving Ardee keeper Lewis Many no chance.

Midfielder McKenna then split the posts as St Joseph’s ended the opening quarter 1-2 to 0-1 in front.

Lorcan Buckley concluded a 20 minute barren spell for Ardee with a point, but, in the next attack, the accurate Grimes cancelled that out at the other end of the field. Ardee, though, were giving as good as they got at this stage, and two points in as many minutes from Sean O’Callaghan and Tadgh McDonnell closed the gap.

In the final minute of normal time in the first half, Donaghmore grabbed their second goal as a ball from Scullion picked out Donaghy and he fired low to the corner of the net. Ardee did have the final say of the first half from an Andrew Wogan mark, but it was St Joseph’s who led 2-3 to 0-5.

As was the case at the start of the first half, it was Ardee who opened the scoring, as Sean O’Callaghan split the posts after a move involving Adam Gillespie and Jamie O’Callaghan. In the 39th minute, though, the winners scored their third goal when Donaghy’s ball found Grimes in space, and he did the rest when finishing past keeper Mant. James O’Callaghan pointed for Ardee but Molloy responded at the other end after cutting in from the right wing to hit it high and over the bar.

Both sides missed chances, and as we went into the last ten minutes, five points separated the sides. It was at this stage that Ardee created a goal chance, but, James Keirans, with his first touch since coming on, was foiled by a superb block from St Joseph’s full back Ben Hughes. A goal at that stage may have set up a nervous finish but Donaghmore weathered the storm for Noah Grimes to land a point to end a 14 minute spell without a score.

Keeper Mant was then called into action to save well from Molloy, before Grimes converted a free after he had been fouled himself. With the contest now in injury time, midfielder Scullion was rewarded for his hard work throughout the game, when he got his name on the scoresheet.

Ardee were held scoreless for the last 20 minutes, while Molloy had a great chance to put the icing on the cake right at the end, when he rounded keeper Mant, but failed to finish. It didn’t matter, though, as St Josephs Donaghmore had done more than enough to book their place in the decider.

The Scorers

St.Joseph’s Donaghmore

Noah Grimes 1-4 (1F), Darragh Donaghy 1-0, Conor O’Neill 1-0, John McKenna 0-1, Ronan Molloy 0-1, Shane Scullion 0-1.

Ardee Community School

Sean O’Callaghan 0-2, Sean Flynn 0-1, Lorcan Buckley 0-1, Tadgh McDonnell 0-1, Andrew Wogan 0-1 (M), Jamie O’Callaghan 0-1.

The teams….