Miskelly leads Darragh to big St. John’s win

15 August 2012

AN inventive and focused Darragh side eased past a gallant St. John’s at Pairc Tomas Ruiseil, Downpatrick, on Thursday night.

Darragh had key players in most sectors of the field, but special praise must go to the efforts of the ageless Tom McMahon, who spent the 60 minutes foraging for possession all over the park and the imperious Marcus Miskelly at full forward.

Miskelly, who has a searing burst of pace that frightens defenders, carved the St. John’s defence wide open in the second minute and created a scoring opportunity for Anton McGrattan, which he accepted to send the ball over the bar.

Shane Murray tagged on a point a minute later, again after Miskelly had left his marker for dead, but St. John’s responded well and Conor Burns pointed with a 21m free to keep his side in touch.

With five minutes gone Miskelly collected a raking pass from Tom McMahon, put the burners on and set up Shane Murray for the first goal of the game to give Darragh a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.

Unanswered points from Shane Murray and Paddy Branney were negated by similar scores from Aidy Kelly and Conor Gilmore as St. John’s bounced right back into contention. Darragh’s early swagger had temporarily lost its momentum and a point from Conor Flanagan and a converted penalty from Marty Keenan had the sides level at 1-4 apiece after 17 minutes.

Three consecutive points from Mark McMahon and Marcus Miskelly (2) put Darragh well clear again, but points from Conor Burns and Jonathan Addis left a single point in it with 30 minutes on the clock.

Darragh then hit St. John’s with a another piece of Miskelly magic and he again released Shane Murray for his side’s second goal to send his side into the break with a 2-7 to 1-6 lead.

Marty Keenan reduced the leeway with a point at the start of the second half, but Marcus Miskelly swopped to net with an opportunist strike to send Darragh 3-7 to 1-7 ahead after 38 minutes.

Further points from McGrattan and Miskelly had Darragh eight points clear and that became 11 when McGrattan netted from the penalty spot after Tom McMahon had been fouled.

St. John’s battled to the bitter end and were rewarded with points from Addis and Conor Burns, but Darragh were home and hosed by this stage.

Darragh Cross: R. Miskelly, S. Timoney, E. Murray, F. Murray, K. McClements, P. Murray, G. McGovern, H. Murray, M. Hardy, M. McMahon (0-1), P. Branney (0-1), A. McGrattan (1-2), T. McMahon, M. Miskelly (1-3), S. Murray (2-2). Subs: M. McClements for K. McClements, M. Canavan for F. Murray, Marty Miskelly for Hardy, C. McClements for E. Murray, J. Flynn for S. Murray.

St. John’s: D. Morgan, J. O’Connor, J. Milligan, Declan Burns, C. McCombe, J. Addis (0-2), Darren Burns, B. McKay, S. McAllister, D. Savage, A. Kelly (0-1), C. Burns (0-3), C. Gilmore (0-1), C. Flanagan (0-1), M. Keenan (1-1). Subs: R. Flanagan for Kelly, H. Flanagan for Keenan, M. Flanagan for Declan Burns, C. McKay for Gilmore.

Darragh Cross 4-9

St. John’s 1-9

IFC 1ST ROUND

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