The Dark Horses make the Final
Brief report on the semifinal:
St Marys had an impressive start to the Masonite Senior Championship semifinal with 3 unanswered points from Ray Mulvey, Daniel Lowe and Nicholas McWeeney before Fintan McGourty from Glencar Manor registered their first point. Three more points for Marys followed from Jimmy Guckian, Ray Mulvey and Gene Bohan. In the 13th minute Gary Hickey scored a free for Manor with Dominic Kelly following 1 minute later. St Marys replied with 2 points from Ray Mulvey and a Gene Bohan free while Glencar Manor squandered 3 chances wide of the posts. The half ended St Marys 0-08 to 0-03 in front on the score board and playing by far the best football. Glencar Manor had a lot of work to do and needed to start playing as a team.
The second half promised much but delivered little in the first 17 minutes, that was to change however towards the end. Glencar Manor made one substitutions in that period and it proved very important as Pat Gilmartin entered the fray and started to steady the ship at midfield. He also got into the action immediately as he scored the first point of the half. St Marys squandered several chances as they hit 6 wides in the opening quarter. Dominic Kelly was next to score for Manor and then the first sign of a come back as Gary Hickey got in for a fisted goal off a Dominic Kelly pass. DrawnÓgame and the place came to life. Marys hit another wide before Ray Mulvey scored a point on the 22nd minute from a free. Ronan McGoarty fisted Glencar Manor back into a drawnÓgame. Several St Marys substitutions followed Breain Farrell for N Commerton, Brian ODonnell for C Cuniffe. Meanwhile Brian McDonald brought Glencar Manor score to 1-07, they were now 1 point ahead of the county champions.
St Marys Breain Farrell managed to break through several tackles to plant the ball in the Manor net and Marys now moved 2 ahead. The noise from the stand was deafening as the game moved to injury time. Brian McDonald missed a vital chance for Manor but he made up for it in the 32nd minute with a point from a long range free. 1 point separated them. Then the killer blow as Gary Hickey registered his second goal and in the 3rd minute of injury time Manor went ahead again. This was the last score as 30 seconds later the game came to an end as Marys exited the championship.
Glencar Manorhamilton now have 1 week to prepare for the final against Bornacoola which is fixed for 3pm on Sunday next.
28-Sep-08 by Brendan Doyle – PRO
