Emerald Sarsfields 2-11 St. John's 0-5
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Emerald Sarsfields did enough to see off a hard-working St. John's side in the quarter final of the Ulster U-21 Champions Tournament in Creggan. The Farney men raced out to a 2-5 to 0-4 half time lead over Antrim Champions St. John's with centre half forward Ciaran Courtney helping himself to 0-3 and captain Phillip Donnelly converting a 19th minute penalty. Courtney made the most of his opportunity after corner forward Pauric Graham had sent an earlier penalty wide §in the sixth minute.
The most impressive score of the half came from the boot of Michael Geehan who goaled after an impressive build up involving Anthony Courtney and Donnelly. St. John's will rue their first half misses, with four wides from a variety of sources. Locky McCurdy seemed to be the only forward with his eye in for the Belfast men, scoring three first half points.
The Monaghan champions weathered the wintry conditions the better in the second half, playing with a significant wind and doing enough to see off the Johnnies. Pauric Graham, Daniel McMahon and Daniel Forde picked off scores within six minutes of the restart, which left the task too tough for the Antrim Champions.
Paddy McBride got their only score of the half in the seventh minute and it was the least he deserved for his hard running throughout. Padraig Nugent's superb goal effort came back off the post late on and this bad luck summed up the way things went for the Johnnies.
Phillip Donnelly was at the heart of all that Sarsfields did all day and was the worthy winner of the Brian Denvir Plumbing man of the match. Emerald Sarsfields were full value for their win and will go into their semi final full of confidence.
Emerald Sarsfields Scorers: Ciaran Courtney 0-4 (0-1f), Michael Geehan (1-0), Phillip Donnelly (1-0 pen), Ryan McGuinness (0-1), Daniel McMahon (0-1), Daniel Forde (0-1), Ryan McGuinness (0-1f), Pauric Graham (0-1) St. Johns Scorers: Ciaran Courtney (0-3, 0-1f), Domhnall Nugent (0-1), Patrick McBride (0-1).