ST MARYS 1-15
COOLEY KICKHAMS 1-11

St Marys booked their return to Division 1 football for 2015 with a win four-point win over Cooley Kickhams after extra-time on Sunday morning at The Ramparts.

The result means that the peninsula side have to face life in the intermediate league next year for a brief moment at the end of normal time it appeared as if they had come out with victory.

After 60 minutes the scoreline was 1-9 to 0-12 but as the teams gathered in their huddles to prepare for extra time, referee, Aidan Dunne, indicated that Cooley had won by a point.

As the celebrating Cooley players returned to the dressing rooms past an incredulous crowd, the stunned St Marys camp remonstrated with the official. After a quick recheck of the score, the error was corrected and the peninsula side returned to the field.

Perhaps that controversy proved to be a distraction for Cooley as the game was as good as over within six minutes of the restart as points from Ronan Carroll and Darren Clarke either side of goal from the lively Paudy Clarke had the Ardee men in firm control.

The closing stages saw St Marys rarely troubled by a Cooley side who looked resigned to their fate for the remainder of the game.

At times Cooley appeared to be hampered by their long break from competitive action but they were given a huge boost when Sean Donnelly took advantage of a rare mistake by the Ardee defence to score the first goal of the game midway through the first half.

With Brian White and Conor Rafferty contributing points, Cooley went in at the break leading by 1-5 to 0-6, with Darren Clarke's kicking keeping St Marys in touch.

It was looking good for the Kickhams early in the second half when they stretched the lead to 1-7 to 0-7 before St Marys lost Donal Matthews to a red card on 40 minutes.

However, Cooley failed to build on that advantage and with Ronan Carroll and RJ Callaghan driving their side forward the Marys got back on terms. Robbie Leavy then put them ahead in the final minute but Rafferty landed a late free to level the game at 1-9 to 0-12.

With the Ardee men returned to 15 players for extra-time they were in full control from the moment Clarke fired to the net, with Darren Clarke bringing his tally to ten points to ensure there was no way back for Cooley.

Five minutes into the first period of extra-time Robbie Leavy and Patrick Sheelan were sent-off following an altercation off-the-ball.

Overall it was a thoroughly deserved win for St Marys who played the better football throughout and passion was matched by a greater composure on the ball, which ensured they made up for the disappointment of missing out on promotion last season.

ST MARYS: Duane Crosbie; Niall Eccles, John Bingham, David Rooney; Conor Keenan, RJ Callaghan, Karl Faulkner; Donal Matthews, Robert Leavy 0-1; Barry Faulkner, Ronan Carroll 0-2, Kian Moran; Paudy Clarke 1-2, Darren Clarke 0-10, Niall Carroll. Subs: Alan Kirk, Jamie Rooney, Martin Duffy

COOLEY KICKHAMS: Neil Gallagher; Keith White, Conor McGuinness, James Loughran; Shane Marks, Richard Brennan, Darren Marks; Brian White 0-6, Conor Rafferty 0-4; Aoghain McGuinness, Alan Page, Michael Rafferty; Gerry Malone 0-1, Michael Kane, Sean Donnelly 1-0. Subs: David Reilly, Patrick Sheelan, Brian Donnelly, Peter Thornton.

Tweet

Most Read Stories