Marren & McDonagh impress as 14 man Curry defeat St. John's

Curry secured their quarter final place in this year's Belfry Sponsored Sligo Senior Football Championship with three wins out of three in ideal conditions in Curry on Saturday evening last, writes Michael McGee.

Saint John's were dealt blows before the game with injuries to Alex Selby & Conor Greene. In came Ronan McGarrigle & Enda Roche to the starting line-up.  County star Adrian Marren got the first of his 8 points after just two minutes with an expertly taken strike from the left wing.   David Rooney had a chance to open St. John's account but agonizingly his fisted attempt of a point came off the upright. Brendan McDonagh doubled Curry's lead when put through by Keith Davey for a good score on six minutes. It was to get even better for Adrian Donohue's charges with a well worked move involving Jason Marren  who fed Brendan Brogan on the 21 metre line, Noel O'Donnell pulled off a great save from Brogan but the ball broke out  kindly to  the waiting Brian McDonagh and he drilled home a low shot to put Curry into an 1-2 lead after 8 minutes of play.  St. John's replied straight away with Shane Stenson pointing from 22 meters out.  Curry's talisman Adrian Marren pulled the strings and in the next 7 minutes fired over 3 points without reply while Keith Davey added another score to put Curry into a very commanding position leading by 1-7 to 0-1 after 20 minutes. It could have been worse for St. John's but for Noel O'Donnell in goals pulled of a great save to deny Keith Davey from adding a second Curry goal on 23 minutes. St. John's finished the first half strongly with Ian Rossitor's two frees and another Shane Stenson score left Curry going in at half time by 1-7 to 0-4 ahead.

Curry had another goal attempt just after the interval with Sean Davey feeding Keith Davey who pumped in a high ball with Jason Marren challenging Noel O'Donnell in goals the ball broke loose and Marren on the ground failed to direct the ball into the St. John's goal and the danger was cleared.  St. John's showed a lot more urgency in the second half to get back into contention.  St. John's Fiachra Grennan was fouled when heading for goal and Ian Rossitor duly pointed.  Curry's midfielder Niall McDonagh who had an excellent game throughout got on the score board with a neat pass coming from Aaron Kearins.  Two more frees from the boot of Ian Rossitor reduced Curry's lead to 1-9 0-7 with ten minutes of the second half gone.  Curry were then reduced to 14 players with Jason Marren shown a straight red card by referee Ciaran McGovern for what looked like words to an umpire.  St. John's were cautious and deployed the extra man back in defence but failed to make their numeric advantage count for the remaining 18 minutes (just adding three further points as did Curry).  Curry always looked the more threatening with ball in hand while St. John's didn't make the best use of chances that came their way while shooting 10 wides over the hour. Curry using all their experience played possession football not giving the ball away cheaply and it was that man again Adrian Marren who scored from 14 meters out following a needless push to Keith Davey by a St. John's defender.  Ian Rossitor received a great pass from Fiachra Grennan and he turned quickly before slotting over for a good score.  St. John's Neil Hayes was given a black card and was replaced by the tanned looking Tommy Kelly just back from America. St. John's Manager Sean Kennedy also threw on another American returnee Oisin Cox to rescue the tie soon afterwards. Kelly looked to have scored after shortly coming on but his shot just tailed narrowly wide of the left hand upright.  Curry's Brendan Brogan & Adrian Marren added two further scores to put Curry well out in front  1-12 to 0-8 lead with 5 minutes remaining.  David Rooney added to late scores for St. John's but it was a case of too little too late as time ran out on the sky blues.

Best for Curry were the impressive Niall McDonagh, Sean Davey, Brian McDonagh, Brendan Brogan, Sean Colleary, & Adrian Marren while St. John's were best served by Ian Rossitor, Shane Stenson, Eoin Flanagan, David Rooney, Fiachra Grennan, Brian McGowan & Paul McNamara.

Scores St. John's:  Ian Rossitor (0-6, 6 frees) Shane Stenson (0-2) David Rooney (0-2)

Scorers Curry:   Adrian Marren (0-8, 1 free) Brian McDonagh (1-2) Niall McDonagh (0-1) Keith Davey (0-1)

Curry:   James Walsh, Conor Maher, David Wynne, Michael Gordon, Aaron Kearins, Kenneth Morley,  Stephen Marren, Niall McDonagh, Sean Collery, Brendan Brogan, Keith Davey, Brian McDonagh, Sean Davey, Jason Marren, Adrian Marren.
Subs: Denis Coffey for Sean Collery (40 mins) James Connolly for Kenneth Morley (50 mins) Danny O'Hara for Brendan Brogan (59 mins).

St. John's: Noel O'Donnell, Neil Hayes, Robert Fahy, Robert Galvin, Ronan McGarrigle, Eoin Flanagan, David Rooney, Mark Cunningham, Paul McNamara, Enda Roche, Shane Stenson, Jamie Grehan, Fiachra Grennan, Ian Rossitor, Brian McGowan

Subs:  Tommy Kelly for Neil Hayes (52 mins), Oisin Cox for Mark Cunningham (54 mins)  Cathal Jordan for Enda Roche (56 mins)

Referee Ciaran McGovern

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