Slick moving St. Peter’s surge into the final

A resolute St. Peter’s under 21 team brushed Keady aside in difficult conditions at Clonmore last Sunday to set up an All County Under 21 final against amalgamated team Crobh Ciaran.

The young whites outfit found the swirling breeze difficult to cope with particularly in the opening half and had they been more accurate in front of goal they could have been out of sight at the short whistle.

With Keady hanging on and just five points adrift entering the final ten minutes it took a well worked goal from Conor McConville to consolidate the Whites victory, the score coming when it did following a lovely delivery from Armagh player Aaron Findon was completed when McConville rounded the opposing keeper to tap in from close range.

Young McConville, who had been carrying an injury, was sprung from the bench when the influential Gavin McCormack had been harshly shown a black card on the quarter mark. Another player who didn’t start yet could be pushing for a place in the final namely Declan Kilroy finished the game in style shooting two nice points before the end.

St. Peter’s had their work cut out against a physical and imposing Keady midfield pairing, but the North Street men held sway in this department through the towering Aaron Findan and Sean O’Neill who was forced to leave the action suffering from what appeared to be a dislocated thumb at the start of the second half.

Although the wind didn’t allow for silky football, several players stood out for the winners. Michael Gogarty, Conor Keegan and Fergal Moore were in good form for the winners, at the back the splendid Drew Genessi and Alex Mackey stood out, but pride of place went to St. Peter’s full back Conleth McAlinden who was sublime in both his tackling and distribution.

Keady to their credit battled to the end and although on one occasion they broke through the winners defence, the Mid Armagh side found whites keeper Michael McCavigan in top form.

Two points from Gavin McCormack and efforts from Fergal Moore and Lee Cush following a Findon probe from deep pushed the whites to a 0-04 to 0-01 lead the Keady score came from their most potent attacker Ryan McCabe. Ryan Kelly knocked over the last score before the break, with an ever changing wind making a lottery of tactics and game plans.

McCabe for Keady pulled two points back to put four between them entering the third quarter,but two Gogarty points and a lovely effort from the newly introduced Niall Cosh showed the strength of the Whites bench.

Conor McConville’s cleverly worked goal on 28 minutes put a justifiable eight points between the sides at the end of a game which the Lurgan men could have won by more,.

As they sweat over the fitness of a number of their players including Sean O’Neill, the Whites have enough to work on in training to keep their focus on the pending final.