St Louis one step from McLarnon final place

St Louis Senior Footballers potentially one step from a place in the BT Ulster College’s McLarnon Cup when they take on St Paul ’s Bessbrook in the semi-final this weekend.

The game takes place on Saturday at 12 noon at Clonmore GAC, County Armagh .

St Louis’ hard fought two point victory over a very strong Our Lady’s Castleblayney a fortnight ago earned them a spot in the semi finals for the first time in thirteen years.

The quarter final clash pitted the two undefeated teams of the campaign to date against each other and a blistering start by the Monaghan side meant St Louis had to work very hard to claw their way back into the game and keep their hopes of progressing alive.

The Ballymena boys’ efforts in the last ten minutes of the first half to get the sides level 0-3 each at half time were quickly undone in the opening three minutes of the second half as ‘Blayney once again scored three points in quick succession. Credit to the St Louis boys who did not panic and gradually began to settle and get a foothold on the game again.

Peter Duffin’s 45m free put St Louis ahead for the first time in the game after 44 minutes and two further points from Dermot McAleese and another Duffin free put four points between the teams going into the last five minutes of the game. Some ill discipline in the Ballymena defence resulted in two late frees for Our Lady’s which their danger man Mark McGuirk duly converted to leave it a one point game going into injury time.

But Peter Duffin was to have the last say in the result as he coolly slotted over an injury time free to see St Louis progress to the semi finals on a score line of 0-11 to 0-9.

Emmet Crawford is unavailable to St Louis for this semi final tie which could mean a place in the starting line up for Connor McNeill.

The Glenravel club man was introduced three minutes from time against Castleblayney and he had an immediate impact in the game as he won two frees, the latter which Peter Duffin scored to clinch the result for St Louis.

The Cullybackey Road boys will once again be looking to Gerard McCorley, Niall Delargy and Neil McCafferty to be on top of their game to deal with the threat of the Bessbrook full forward line. Whoever pairs captain Michael O’Mullan in midfield will have to combine to impose their strength and mobility on a highly rated Bessbrook midfield pairing.

St Louis mentors Paul McFlynn and Colm Morgan can rely on College’s All Star Dermot McAleese to lead from the front and they will be hoping Peter Duffin and Dermot McWilliams will have the same influence in this semi final tie as they did last time out.

St Louis’ opponents, St Paul ’s were beaten finalists in last year’s competition so once again it appears St Louis will be the underdogs. The Armagh side are under the stewardship of former St Gall ’s manager John Rafferty and he is aided by former county stars Jarlath Burns, Martin O’Rourke and Barry Shannon.

Victories over St Malachy’s Belfast , St Michael’s Lurgan and St Eunan’s Letterkenny earned St Louis top spot in the group stages of the competition at the end of November. Six points separated them and St Pius X Magherafelt in the Last 16 game before Christmas before they did it the hard way against Our Lady’s.

So this is St Louis’ sixth game of the competition and all involved with the team are hoping there is one more game to follow.

One McLarnon finalist will be known by Thursday night as St Patrick’s Downpatrick and St Columb’s Derry play each other at the Dub (Belfast) at 7pm. All roads lead to County Armagh on Saturday morning to see who completes the final pairing for the 19th March show piece.