Clinical Davis too strong for St Mary’s in decider
By Fergus Balfe
THOMAS DAVIS were simply a cut above their opponents, St Mary’s, eventually converting their supremacy into scores to triumph comprehensively in the Senior Two Football Championship Final in Parnell Park on Saturday.
Taking on a side ranked a division above them, Mary’s knew the scale of their task, but stayed in touch on the scoreboard until a brace of Jim White goals either side of the interval put Davis in control, and the Tallaght outfit never looked back, racing away in the second period to clinch the title.
Thomas Davis proved too strong
After a cagey opening, both sides got off the mark from the dead ball, as Davis half-forward Eoin Kirby slotted a couple that were cancelled out by the efforts of forwards James Timmons and Blaine Kelly for Mary’s.
Thomas Davis were applying pressure, but inaccurate shooting led to a multitude of wides; the exception being a brilliant long-range score from wing forward Jim White, that saw his side hold a one-point lead moments before the break.
However, the complexion of the half-time team-talks was changed in the dying moments when Davis found their rhythm through a pair of Ciaran Farrelly scores, along with White’s first three-pointer, as he drove at the heart of the Mary’s defence and blasted into the corner.
While the 1-6 to 0-2 deficit was not ideal for Mary’s, the plucky Saggart side were buoyed by their unlikely late fightbacks against Round Tower and Fingallians in the two previous knockout rounds, giving them hope of repeating the trick.
Just one minute after the resumption of play, those aspirations were dealt a major blow, as a wonderful interchange of passes involving influential captain Kirby and impressive half-forward Ryan Deegan was finished into the bottom left corner once again by White.
Though Mary’s steadied the ship somewhat, with half-time substitute Glen Murray, goalkeeper Shane Redmond and Timmons all dissecting the posts, it was now goals they required to stand any chance of victory.
Instead, Davis were rising to the occasion, and their professional performance yielded another goal midway through the half, when Gavin Carruth was fouled after a goalward surge, with Farrelly smashing home the resulting penalty to all but seal the victory.
With only pride at stake, St Mary’s notched a well-taken goal of their own inside the final ten minutes, as corner forward Rhys Butler won a Davis kick-out and fed the industrious Alan Marshall on the charge, and he arrowed his shot into the net.
Nonetheless, there was no doubting this was Davis’ day, adding one more goal late on as replacement Éanna O’Toole found Eamon Conroy in acres of space, and the midfielder coolly sidefooted the ball past Redmond to put the icing on the Championship cake.
THOMAS DAVIS: R. Crilly, E. Lambert, G. Carruth, C. Murphy, E. Kirby, O. Kelly, E. Conroy, B. Kirby, D. Keogh, J. White, M. Nolan, C. Farrelly, A. Fallon, B. Kirby, R. Deegan. SUBS: J. Lambert, S. Kennedy, J. O’Reilly, P. Boland, É. O’Toole.
ST MARY’S: S. Redmond, C. Finn, I. Marron, S. O’Toole, P. Doyle, A. Darcy, A. Brady, S. Tynan, J. Maguire, B. Kelly, C. Howard, A. Marshall, R. Butler, J. Timmons, A. McCabe. SUBS: C. Dunne, G. Murray, C. Finn, S. Walsh, C. MacGearailt.
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