Vinnies go Wild in the final quarter

murphy cup final

By Rónán Mac Lochlainn

St Vincent's produced a dominant final quarter to claim the Tommy Murphy Cup, beating a battling Wild Geese by 3-11 to 0-7 in Oldtown last Tuesday evening.

Despite starting brightly, creating an early three-point lead, the visitors were put under a fair degree of pressure from the hosts but coped very well with James Harney, Aaron McLean and Charles Kelly typifying their collective effort.

St Vincent's were far more economical in attack and points by David Whelan, Lenny Lynch and Pádraig Gavin ensured a 0-8 to 0-3 interval advantage for the Marino club, despite the best efforts of David Rennie, Richard Monks and Daryl Browne for Wild Geese.

The hosts' task was made even tougher when they 
were reduced to 14 man towards the end of the first half and as they chased the game upon the restart, their opponents capitalised to 
leave a sizeable margin between the sides.

Prominent

The midfield pairing of Colm O'Gorman and Robert Moriarty were especially prominent at this stage and victory was confirmed as Gavin, Lynch and Whelan all found the net in the second half, to reflect their dominance on the scoreboard.

"We were very pleased with the team performance," said Vinnies captain Cronan Moran.

"Wild Geese had already beaten us in the league game back in Páirc Naomh Uinsionn a couple of months back and we knew we would have to be on top form to get a result in the North County.

"It was very pleasing to see four or five lads who did not start the championship game get to play last Tuesday and they took their opportunity which will give manager Tom O' Byrne a few selection headaches ahead of upcoming important league games.

"We will hope to push on for a play-off spot in AFL 8 and that semi-final of the Junior 'C' Football Championship against Raheny at the end of August is something else to look forward to," said Moran.

St Vincent's Panel: J Irving, C Kelly, A McLean, P O'Connell, C Miley, J Harney, S Moore, 
R Moriarty, C O'Gorman, L Lynch, P Gavin, 
P O'Meara, P McNeil, D Whelan, D O'Byrne, 
C Carroll, C Moran, N Hassett, C Conroy-Murphy, J O'Keeffe, B Kelly, K Weinman.

Wild Geese Panel: E Smyth, K Lowther, 
K Monks, P Flood, A Rennie, B O'Sullivan, D Hagan, R Monks, B Rennie, P O'Connor, 
D Monks, A Scahill, Daryl Browne, P Murray, 
B Corcoran, Davin Browne, E Newman, 
S Chapman, D Rennie.