ST MARYS 1-16
KILKERLEY EMMETS 2-9

St Marys continued their good Senior Championship form at Stabannon on Saturday night where victory over Kilkerley Emmets saw them book a place in the quarter-finals as Group 3 winners.

Following their impressive showing against Geraldines in the opening game, St Marys have certainly made a statement with their second victory over Division 1 opposition.

In the process the Ardee men have chalked up big scores on both occasions and yet again Darren Clarke (0-12) and Ronan Carroll (1-3) led as they scored all but one of their side's total between them.

However, they were made to work all the way by a determined Kilkerley side who were in contention throughout and it wasn't until Ronan Carroll found the net in the 57th minute that the Marys could be sure of victory.

The game also started with a goal as Shane Lennon opened the scoring on three minutes, and although Clarke and Carroll were on the mark, Kilkerley went 1-2 to 0-2 ahead on 13 minutes thanks to points from Tadhg McEneaney and Lennon.

The Ardee side then took a grip of the game and landed the next four points to take the lead for the first time before going into the break with a 0-9 to 1-5 advantage.

Kilkerley suffered a setback when they lost Alan McGeough to a black card early in the second half and they looked to be facing an uphill task when Clarke struck five points to put his side 0-14 to 1-6 ahead.

However, Kilkerley dragged themselves back into contention when Lennon added his second goal of the game and soon after when McEneaney landed a point, the teams were level at 0-14 to 2-8 with just seven minutes to play.

It was St Marys who proved to have the extra gear when it mattered most and Clarke landed two points before Carroll struck the all-important goal to seal the win despite McEneaney's late pointed free.

ST MARYS: Duane Crosby; David Carroll, John Bingham, Barry Faulkner; Niall Eccles, RJ Callaghan, Karl Faulkner; Donal Matthews, Robbie Leavy; Cian Moran, Ronan Carroll 1-3, Alan Kirk 0-1; Paudie Clarke, Darren Clarke 0-12 (9fr), Niall Carroll. Subs: Jamie Rooney for RJ Callaghan, Ryan Rooney for A Kirk, Martin Duffy for C Moran.

KILKERLEY EMMETS: Cillian Quigley; Barra McCarthy, Niall Mulholland, Cillian Mulligan; Ronan Lennon, Alan McGeough, Fintan Clarke; James Fegan, Sean McElroy; Andrew McGuill, Cathal Bellew 0-1, Ciaran Bellew; Tadgh McEneaney 0-4, Shane Lennon 2-3, Daniel McKeown. Subs: Ciaran Clarke 0-1 for Alan McGeough (BC), Donal McElroy for A McGuill. Tweet

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