St Mark’s let it slip in Inter Championship Final
By Hayden Moore
A JOEY Cannon goal just after half-time pushed St Mark’s seven points ahead, only for it to be all undone as they lost out to Cuala in the Intermediate Hurling Championship Final.
It was ultimately indiscipline that let the Springfield side down as they had a man sent-off and conceded 2-10 after the interval in Chanel on Sunday.
St Mark's let a seven-point lead slip
The black and amber shot out of the blocks early on through corner-forward Joey Cannon, who shook off three defenders down the right wing before netting off his weaker left side.
Emmet Murphy at corner-forward was as clinical-as-ever from frees for Cuala, converting four placed balls in the first-half.
But Marks where in control from early on with forward David O’Callaghan chalking up six points and linking up with midfield-dynamo Sean McCann on numerous occasions to keep them in the driving seat.
Conall Rabbitte operated as an effective sweeper for the Tallaght outfit as he scuppered several attacks from Cuala forwards Justin Byrne and Jack Twomey.
The point of the half came after Mark’s midfielder Ryan Farrell took a couple of defenders out of position with his dynamic running and found O’Callaghan in the centre of the park.
He swivelled around Cuala’s Carl Shutte before finding McCann in space with a sublime reverse pass and pointed to make it 1-5 to 0-4.
The Dalkey men had their first point from open play fall on the stroke of half-time when Byrne linked with midfielder Donal Lane to send them into the interval 1-7 to 0-6 down.
St Marks started the second-half just as they had the first, with a goal from Joey Cannon.
Stallworth centre-back David Kearns’ attempted point from distance dropped short with Cuala goalkeeper Ryan Di Felice misjudging the ball and hitting him in the helmet, leaving Cannon only to tap it home.
Cuala began to claw their way back into the game and cut the deficit when Di Felice tucked away a penalty and two huge points from frees.
Evan Hanley began shutting down countless attacks and led Cuala out from the back as Naoise Waldron kicked into gear with a brace of points from corner-forward.
Marks became cynical as the game grew old and had Jonathan Bryan sent-off, while the usually clinical John Kelly misfired down the other end.
Murphy kept the scoreboard ticking for Cuala but it was the wily Waldron who proved a real thorn in the side for Marks as he scored into an open goal at the death to help secure the title for his side.
ST MARKS: J Cannon, S Galvin, K Hoare, D O’Callaghan, R Kenny, M O’Meara, S McCann, G Whelan, R Farrell, D Glynn, C Rabbitte, J Hillard, J Kelly, J Bryan, P Murphy, C Rabbitte, D Kearns, D O’Flaherty.
CUALA: R Di Felice, N O’Dowd, C Shutte, J Lahart, C Farrell, E Hanley, N Keane, D Twomey, D Lane, D Ryan, A Power, J Byrne, E Murphy, J Twomey, N Waldron.
ST MARK’S….2-10
CUALA……….2-16
TAGS Sport
