St. Aidan's impress

A power-packed first half display laid the platform for St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School, Cootehill to go on and secure victory in the Paddy O’Hara Cup final in Latton last week.

Wind-backed Cootehill’s feat in constructing a lead of 1-9 to 0-2 at the break against St Joseph’s, Crossmaglen proved pivotal as the Armagh lads’ attempts at a comeback in the second half were faced down in perfect playing conditions.

Cootehill were, physically, the stronger squad and in the second half in particular when fatigue and tension became talking points, the difference between the teams in terms of power and resilience became more significant.

In addition, Cootehill’s consistent success in forcing turnovers in the middle third proved key too in terms of deciding the issue.

Matthew Feerick got Cootehill off the mark with a well-taken point inside the opening three minutes before Rian McNally arrowed over a neat left footed effort seconds later.

Cootehill’s press on the Cross kickout was a big plus for the winners-elect as the Armagh side found it difficult to get out of their own half in the face of the forceful elements.

With Charlie Gallagher and Arnas Metlovas in dominant form in the middle of the field, the likes of Aaron Kelly up front got plenty of good ball and a brace of points from him (following one from Gallagher) added to Cootehill’s momentum.

Slowly but surely though, Cross improved in holding onto possession and gradually they began to find more joy breaking out of defence with Joe McShane nabbing a point.

Cootehill remained in control though and they went 0-7 to 0-1 in front when the key score arrived in the 25th minute with Aaron Kelly’s left-footer hitting the top right-hand corner of the Cross net.

A well-taken point thereafter by goalscorer Kelly pinned Cross even tighter against the ropes before they countered with a Lorcan Goodman point. Cootehill had the last word in the first half though when Brannan McCaul pointed.

With the wind behind them after the break, St Joseph’s were more in the game, but Dylan Foster in goals managed to find his midfielders Metlovas and Gallagher with the majority of his kick-outs which helped take the pressure off the Cootehill defence where Ryan Ward drove forward to set up a number of scores.

For the most part, Cootehill were content to soak up the pressure and push forward (with Ryan Ward excelling in that regard) to eat into Crossmaglen’s confidence.

Adam Treanor, Kyle Lennon and Joe McShane clipped over some fine second half points to keep Crossmaglen in the game and they managed to narrow the gap between the teams during the third quarter to bridgeable proportions.

However, the introduction of Liam McCann from the bench after 45 minutes paid dividends for Saint Aidan's with a late goal and a point while Braiden McCarney’s solo goal in the 50th minute served to put the tin hat on a really professional performance by the Cootehill-based crew.

St. Aidan's: Dylan Foster; Eoghan McQuillan, Fionan Smith, Jackson Rooney; Ryan Ward, Patrick Reilly, Rían McNally (0-1); Charlie Gallagher (0-2), Amas Metlovas (0-2); Fehin McCarey, Braiden McCarney (1-0), Charlie O’Sullivan; Aaron Kelly (1-5, 3f), Matthew Feerick (0-3), Brannan McCaul (0-1) Subs used; Liam McCann (1-1); Oliver McEnroe; Euen O’Hart; Jayden Quigley; Fionn Tate.

St. Joseph's: Pearse Donnelly; Cillian Carragher, Hugh Conway, James Walsh; Peter McShane, Shane Farrell, Shea Lennon; Jamie Daly, James Kelly; Kyle Lennon (0-1), Lorcan Goodman (0-1), Adam Trainor; Sean Óg O'Leary, Joe McShane (0-5), Conall Donaghy.

Subs used:Sean Shevlin; Tom McBride.