St. John’s hitmen are roasting hot

30 April 2014

A TENACIOUS St John’s outfit were hotter than a pepper sprout when they overcame Saul in an entertaining clash on Friday evening.

There is no doubt that St. John’s were worthy winners, but Saul contributed to their own downfall as they amassed 16 wides over the hour, including 12 in the second half.

In a rare occurrence, two St. John’s brothers, Chris and Danny McKay lined out against two Saul brothers, Chris and Rory Mullen, for the throw in, but it was the visitors who grabbed the first score of the game when Cathail Arnold converted a 14m free in the second minute.

St. John’s responded immediately and the elusive Marty Keenan capitalised on a bouncing ball error and set-up Chris McKay for a well-taken goal. Mark McGrady and Chris McKay swapped points before St. John’s got lucky.

Chris McKay attempted a long range free conversion, but the ball ped slightly short.

Unfortunately for Saul, Keenan latched onto the ball and lashed it to the net to give St. John’s a 2-1 to 0-2 lead after only eight minutes.

Chris Mullen and Chris McKay exchanged points before Keenan pointed St. John’s into a 2-3 to 0-3 lead after 14 minutes.

Keenan and Danny McKay added on points for St. John’s before good scores from Cathail Arnold and Ciaran Harney left Saul trailing 2-5 to 0-5.

The fleet-footed Conor Gilmore and Harney swapped points before Chris McKay gave St. John’s a 2-7 to 0-6 lead at the break, but there was still enough time for Saul to be denied a good penalty shout when Cathail Arnold appeared to be fouled in the act of shooting.

Saul made a couple of switches at the break and what an effect they had.

Suddenly, St. John’s looked leaden-footed and unable to get a second wind and boy did Saul nearly make them pay.

It was all Saul from the throw-in and unanswered points from Nathan Keenan (0-2), Cathail Arnold (0-2) and Harney had the visitors only two points behind and they had a full head of steam behind them.

St. John’s were now losing out at midfield and in danger of being swamped by the Saul Tsunami, but with 44 minutes gone Lady Luck smiled in their favour when they were awarded a penalty for a pretty innocuous challenge by Cormac Byrne on Marty Keenan.

Conor Morgan was as cool as you like when he beat Conor Marron with the resultant penalty to give his side a 3-7 to 0-11 lead.

Saul seemed unfazed by this reversal and went straight down the park with John Cunningham slotting

over a delightful score to leave four points in it and all to play for.

Marty Keenan and Sam Burns swapped points before Conor Flanagan got on the end of a sweeping move and gave St. John’s a 4-8 to 0-13 lead with four minutes remaining.

Great resolve from Saul enabled them to grab a goal from Harney and a point from Nathan Keenan to set-up a grandstand finish, but St. John’s had the force with them and late points from Chris McKay and Anthony Doran rounded off an accomplished attacking display.

St. John’s: D. McMullan, C. O’Connor, J. Addis, D. Savage, B. Russell, C. Burns, R. Flanagan, D. McKay (0-1), J. Milligan, C. McKay (1-4), C. Flanagan (1-0), C. Morgan (1-0), C. Gilmore (0-1, M. Keenan (1-3), H. Flanagan. Subs: A. Doran (0-1) for H. Flanagan, R. Kelly for R. Flanagan.

Saul: C. Marron, A. Brady, D. Arnold, M. Magill, R. Mullen, D. Ritchie, C. Byrne, A. King, C. Mullen (0-1), M. McGrady (0-1), N. Keenan (0-3), C. Mahoney, C. Shields, C. Arnold (0-4), C. Harney (1-3). J. Cunningham (0-1) for Shields, S. Burns (0-1) for Mahoney.

St. John’s 4-10

Saul 1-14

ACFL DIVISION 2

Tweets by @TheDownRecorder