St. Pat's hit net to go through
ST. PATRICK'S 3-07 KILDAVIN-CLONEGAL 0-11: ST. PATRICK'S juniors compensated for the demise of their seniors on the same turf 24 hours previously when they qualified for the JFC A final (against Naomh Eoin or Palatine) at Dr. Cullen Park on Friday, writes Paul Donaghy.
A Tullow victory did not look on when they struggled through the break 0-5 to 1-1 behind and later were down 0-9 to 1-3, but a burst of enthusiasm which brought points from Paddy McCall, Paul Canavan and McCall again brought them level by the 50th minute.
Kildavin-Clonegal set the opening pace with five points by the 23rd minute; the Saints goal a penalty by Stephen Nolan against the K-C goalkeeper in the eighth minute, and Noel Goss pointing with the last kick of the half.
There was a competitive tussle in the middle where 'Patrick's Stephen Nolan and Padraig Hickey shared the honours but in the end it was a resolute Tullow defence which saw them through, holding out in the closing minutes when KC threatened to over-run them, but Tom Bolger Shane Rohan and Phil Callaghan were sound and only conceded one point from play in the last 19 minutes.
The decisive score came in the 52nd minute when a long delivery by Canavan fell to the impressive McCall and the lanky No. 11 hit a low shot from the left inside the right post at the Dublin end.
K-C came in waves and closed to a point when Paul Nolan converted a free and Hickey soloed 25 metres before registering their final score, but try as they did they were foiled and not even the best of Teddy O'Leary, Nolan and Shiel could not find a way through.
St. Patrick's lifted the siege and capped their passage to the final when a long free out of defence by Nolan reached Cian Madden who saw Mark Doran hit the crossbar and McCall was on hand to score his second goal and he closed a fine performance with the final point after good play by another reserve Neil Phelan. Conor Doyle was another to shine.
