The Johnnies do Antrim proud

St John’s (Antrim) 3-20, Setanta (Derry) 0-12

THERE may have been no Cushendall, Loughgiel or Dunloy representing Antrim at Ulster club hurling level this year but the mighty St John's from Belfast did us all proud as they advanced to the final with this 17 point win against the Derry champions in Owenbeg.
It was ‘job done’ for St John’s on Saturday evening as they sealed their place in the Ulster final. The score line would suggest this was a comfortable evenings work for the Antrim champions, the reality is it was far from it.
Setanta gave St John’s their fill of it and plenty more when it came to the physical side of the game with the Johnnies lacking any fluency for close to three-quarters of the game.
Credit should be given where it’s due though, the Donegal men came with a game plan and brought a serious intensity to the game.
They hit every ruck and breakdown with everything they had and looked to out-muscle St John’s, playing with no fear and nothing to lose.
St John’s showed signs of rust, unsurprising given its four weeks since they last had a competitive fixture and with how Setanta rattled into them, it took longer than expected for them to find any sort of fluency.
They had plenty of moments of magic throughout the hour that they were never going to be in trouble and their final quarter performance was more akin to what we have come to expect from the Corrigan Park side.
Oisin MacManus finished top scorer with five of his 12 points coming from play while Conor Johnston had a brace of majors and Donal Carson with the other.
Domhnall Nugent had an excellent game between the sticks while Enda McGurk and Sean Wilson also impressed.
Gerard Gilmore was mightily impressive for the Donegal men, recording nine points (all from frees) but his overall contribution was excellent.
He had plenty of support from Ruairi Gilmore, Ryan Coyle and Mark Callaghan.
The effort from Setanta could never be faulted but the class of the Antrim champions saw them through.
The Donegal side made a great start to the game with Bernard Lafferty and Gilmore (free) putting them two clear inside the opening three minutes.
It was a feisty start to the game with plenty happening off the ball, referee Barry Winters was letting the game flow as best he could as both looked to settle.
The opening St John’s goal came from a piece of brilliance from Conor Johnston. Collecting the sliotar in the right hand corner and despite being under pressure, Johnston got clear and found the bottom corner.
A brilliant finish and the settler the Johnnies needed.
Further scores followed from MacManus, Conal Bohill and Shea Shannon as St John’s showed their quality.
Gilmore’s second free of the night got Setanta’s scoreboard ticking again but three scores in as many minutes from Shannon (free), Michail Dudley and a massive free from Domhnall Nugent put six between the sides after the first quarter.
Setanta retaliated with points from Gilmore (free) and a brilliant score from Danny Cullen to cut the lead to four.
MacManus landed his second of the night before St John’s were awarded a penalty. Ruairi McLaughlin bringing down Conor Johnston inside the square and while Nugent left his goal keeping position to come and take the resulting penalty, he drilled the sliotar over the bar.
Setanta finished the half on top with another Gilmore free and points from Coyle and Cullen with a brace of frees from MacManus the response from the Johnnies to leave the half time score 1-10 to 0-8 in favour of the Antrim champions.
It was a rude awakening of sorts for St John’s in that opening 30 minutes.
Setanta were relentless, tigerish and hit every breakdown with savage intensity – making it impossible for St John’s to settle into any rhythm.
They went on to halve the St John’s lead to two points inside the opening three minutes of the half but St John’s were much better after the restart and went on to hit 1-4 without reply in a little over five minutes.
Points from MacManus (three) and Shannon came either side of Conor Johnston’s second goal.
Shannon at the heart of the build-up and Johnston showing his speed, agility and awareness to strike the sliotar to the back of the net in such a way that he was never going to be hooked.
Setanta were struggling with discipline and the frees against them began to mount as St John’s turned the screw.
Gilmore landed another free to cut the St John’s lead to nine but he and his side would only add another point as St John’s played with an element of control amongst the physicality brought by the Donegal champions.
With MacManus leading the way from placed ball and open play, the next three white flags coming from his hurl put more daylight between the sides.
The third Johnnies goal came in the 53rd minute and while it may seem fortuitous, it showed the work rate of St John’s.
MacManus effort from range dropped short and while goal keeper Kevin Campbell dealt with the sliotar well, Donal Carson blocked his attempted clearance into the back of the net.
MacManus (two) and Enda McGurk added further gloss to the score line for the Johnnies as they played with much more fluency in the closing stages.
It was all about getting through this game with no more injuries as far as St John’s were concerned.
The bookies had the handicap betting at -15 anything less would have been looked upon as a poor result and performance.
They dusted any cobwebs off and got back into championship mode as this game went on.
The Johnnies roll on with and 60 minutes away from Ulster glory and getting their hands on the Four Seasons Cup.

Teams:

St Johns: Domhnall Nugent; Ryan McNulty, Ronan Donnelly, Jack Bohill; Conal Morgan, Peter McCallin, Enda McGurk; Sean Wilson, Aaron Bradley; Michail Dudley, Conor Johnston, Conall Bohill; Donal Carson, Shea Shannon, Oisin MacManus

Replacements: Michael Bradley for R Donnelly (19); Danaan McKeogh for P McCallin (50); Lorcan Heenan for D Carson (51); James Wilson for S Shannon (55)

Scorers: O MacManus 0-12 (7fs); C Johnston 2-00; S Shannon 0-3 (1f); D Carson 1-00; D Nugent 0-2 (1f, 1pen); E McGurk 0-1; M Dudley 0-1; C Bohill 0-1

Setanta: Kevin Campbell; Ruairi McLaughlin, Steven McBride, Mark Callaghan; Dean Harvey, Bernard Lafferty, Declan Coulter; Conor McGettigan, Gerard Gilmore; Danny Gillen, Fionn Farren, Ruairi Campbell; Sean Ward, Josh Connolly-McGee, Ryan Coyle

Replacements: Oisin Marley for F Farren (43); Niall Cleary for S Ward (51); Ryan Callaghan for M Callaghan (57); Jason Patton for B Lafferty (57)
Scorers: G Gilmore 0-9 (9f); D Gillen 0-2; B Lafferty 0-1; R Coyle 0-1

Referee: Barry Winters (Tyrone)