MARGARET’S PURE MAGIC
Fox, Barnwell and Murtagh deliver goods
DUBLIN JFC ‘D’ QUARTER-FINAL
ST MARGARET’S…………………………………. 4-10
NAOMH FIONNBARRA…………………………. 2-5
Daire Walsh
A STRONG second-half showing paid dividends on Sunday afternoon at The Bogies for St Margaret’s as they booked their place in the semi-final of the Dublin Junior Football ‘D’ Championship with an impressive victory over 14-man Naomh Fionnbarra.
A brace of goals from full-forward Patrick Molloy had kept the Cabra men in contention during the opening period, but with Andrew Barnwell, Graham Murtagh and half-forward Dean Fox all in fine form, Margaret’s ultimately finished with 11 points to spare.
On paper, the Kilreesk outfit were favourites to progress in this competition, on the basis of their current league when you compare it directly to Fionnbarra’s. Indeed, Margaret’s opened their account courtesy of a sixth minute Barnwell point from play.
Barnwell and Murtagh scores helped the visitors to increase their advantage just three minutes later, but from the subsequent attack, Fionnbarra restored parity in surprising fashion. Molloy was fouled close to the Margaret’s goal, but even though his attempt at a point from the resulting free dropped short, it deceived opposition netminder Adam Roche and ended up in the back of his net.
This acted as a warning sign to Margaret’s, but following a five minute scoreless period from both sides, centre-forward David Doyle split the Fionnbarra posts at the end of a fine move. The hosts were beginning to offer a considerable attacking threat, though, and the woodwork came to the rescue of Margaret’s towards the end of the first-quarter, when Stephen Costello raced through on goal.
Fionnbarra were left to rue this missed opportunity, as Margaret’s responded with two goals in quick succession. In spite of the best efforts of goalkeeper James Gleeson, Murtagh fired home after 16 minutes, and the influential Doyle raised a green flag by flicking home a ’45’ three minutes later.
Barnwell was also agonisingly wide of the mark, but thanks to excellent singles from Molloy (free) and Costello, Fionnbarra remained in touch. Barnwell and Costello swapped scores as the interval beckoned, before Molloy’s clinical stoppage-time goal reduced Fionnbarra’s deficit to just two points (2-5 to 2-3).
As a result, Margaret’s couldn’t rest on their laurels when the action resumed, and Adam Brooks was introduced into the action to add fresh impetus to their forward line. The away side were eager to make a point, and after Leslie Cowley had registered a 33rd-minute point, the pacey Fox flicked beyond the reach of Gleeson for his side’s third goal.
This was a hammer blow for Fionnbarra, and with 20 minutes remaining in the contest, they found themselves further behind courtesy of well-worked Margaret’s scores from inside forwards Barnwell and Murtagh. A successful 35-metre Molloy free brought this scoring sequence to an end on 43 minutes, but Leslie Cowley added his second point of the game inside the closing-quarter.
The ever-dangerous Molloy increased his personal haul to 2-3 with another pointed free, and this proved to be Fionnbarra’s final score of the game. The aforementioned Leslie Cowley was perhaps fortunate to only receive a yellow-card 55 minutes in, but just a minute later, Molloy received his marching orders for a late challenge on Owen Sullivan. This effectively eliminated the prospect of a dramatic late Fionnbarra fightback, and after Doyle had enhanced Margaret’s lead, Fox completed the scoring with a goal in time added on.
Scorers – ST MARGARET’S: D Fox 2-0, D Doyle, G Murtaugh 1-2 each, A Barnwell 0-4 (1f), L Cowley 0-2. NAOMH FIONNBARRA: P Molloy 2-3 (1-2f), S Costello 0-2.
ST MARGARET’S: A Roche; J Kennedy, S Sutton, F Kelly; N McGuirke, O Sullivan, J Nugent; L Cowley, T Flood; S Kelly, D Doyle, D Fox; G Murtagh, D Cowley, A Barnwell. SUBS: A Brooks for Kelly (h-t), P Winters for Nugent (46), G Hickey for Murtagh (51).
NAOMH FIONNBARRA: J Gleeson; C Kelly, B Carr, D McDermott; T Gleeson, C Stone, D Russell; C Shannon, D Dowling; O Lynch, S Costello, C O’Brien; P Whelan, P Molloy, M Molloy. SUBS: P Quinn for M Molloy (15), G Boyd for Kelly (28), M Molloy for McDermott (50).
MENTORS – ST MARGARET’S: R Byrne, I Smith, D Cowley. NAOMH FIONNBARRA: S Hyland, S Naughton.
REFEREE: L Aherne Clarke (Ballyboughal).
WIDES – ST MARGARET’S: 6(3+3). NAOMH FIONNBARRA: 4 (3+1).
CONDITIONS: Light rain in the first-half, followed by a heavy downpour in the second-half.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Andrew Barnwell (St Margaret’s).