McDonnell’s tour de force helps St Joseph’s earn semi-final spot

St Joseph's 1-16, The Downs 1-13

St Joseph’s showed huge character in the closing stages to overcome The Downs in an absorbing Clarke’s Bar Junior 1 Football Championship quarter-final at Moate’s Hogan Park last Sunday afternoon.

Jordan McDonnell scored 1-9 for the up-and-coming Streamstown outfit who kicked four of the last five points, despite having their captain Ros Elliffe sent off on a second yellow card in the 57th minute.

St Joseph’s looked to be well on their way to a semi-final meeting with St Loman’s when they led by 1-12 to 1-7 in the 42nd minute, but inspired by corner-forward Ben Harte, The Downs stormed back to level by the 49th minute.

Midfielder Josh Murtagh missed a guilt-edged goalscoring opportunity during this period of dominance and it came back to haunt the black and ambers when St Joseph’s wrestled back control with four unanswered points before a late Shane Carroll point, that bounced over the crossbar, left them hanging on a little bit at the end.

This was a hugely significant result for St Joseph’s who, after losing to Ballycomoyle in the first round, have bounced back with a series of eye-catching performances. They will be underdogs against a strong St Loman’s second string who put Bunbrosna to the sword last weekend, but this victory will bring them on greatly and give them the belief that a first Hugh Daniels Cup success in 19 years is within their grasp.

The sides were level four points in the opening 19 minutes with Donal Coughlan (two), Shane Carroll (free) and Ben Harte were on target for The Downs and Jordan McDonnell scored twice from play and twice from frees for the winners. The St Joseph’s full-forward was also denied a goal by an outstanding full-length save from Senan O’Driscoll at the expense of a ’45 which yielded nothing.

A Joseph Cusack mark gave the breeze-assisted St Joseph’s the lead for the first time before McDonnell’s third placed ball doubled their advantage. Carroll replied with a free before Ros Elliffe deflected Mikey Lynam’s ’45 over with his fist and Ben McDonnell also got in on the scoring act to leave the green and golds three up in the 30th minute.

But The Downs were level a minute later when Coughlan jinxed his way through for the opening goal. Straight from the restart, a St Joseph’s attack culminated in Jordan McDonnell being brought down for a penalty by Shane Murtagh, and he dusted himself down to send O’Driscoll the wrong way from the spot-kick to give St Joseph’s a 1-9 to 1-6 lead at the break.

McDonnell continued his tour de force with the first two points of the second period, the second from a free he won himself. Carroll and Dean Slevin traded scores before Padraig Corcoran’s charges suddenly caught fire with three points from the excellent Harte (one free) and another from Billy Moffatt to regain parity.

This all came after they had lost Donal Coughlan to injury in the 41st minute. Coughlan had been their best forward in the first half along with former senior star Kevin Smullen, who was home from Australia for a wedding.

It was anyone’s game with ten minutes to go, but St Joseph’s showed their mettle by grabbing the next four points per Mikey Lynam, Joseph Cusack, Jordan McDonnell (free) and substitute Niall Moran to open up a 1-16 to 1-12 lead.

Elliffe received his marching orders in the middle of this scoring burst and St Joseph’s were relieved to hear the final whistle after Shane Carroll brought it back to three and then sent a sideline kick wide when his intention was to drop into the square in the hope of salvaging a late equalising goal.

Scorers – St Joseph’s: J McDonnell 1-9 (1-0pen, 0-5fs), J Cusack 0-2 (1m), M Lynam, D Slevin, B McDonnell, R Elliffe and N Moran 0-1 each. The Downs: D Coughlan 1-2, B Harte and S Carroll (3fs) 0-5 each, B Moffatt 0-1.

St Joseph’s: Stephen Fennessy; Thomas Conlon, Daniel Keegan, Andy Conway; Mikey Lynam, Jake Gannon, Andy Scally; Ros Elliffe, Aaron McDonnell; Pearse Weir-Norris, Dean Slevin, Ben McDonnell; Brian Keegan, Jordan McDonnell, Joseph Cusack. Subs: Eoin Kelly for Conway (16 mins, injured), Niall Moran for A McDonnell (46), Brian Fitzgerald for Weir-Norris (58), Noah McDonnell for Keegan (60).

The Downs: Senan O’Driscoll; Gavin Murphy, Eoghan Moore, Cian Carty; Cian McCourt, Keith Carroll, Lorcan Mullen; Shane Egerton, Josh Murtagh; Shane Murtagh, Kevin Smullen, Billy Moffatt; Donal Coughlan, Shane Carroll, Ben Harte. Subs: Eoghan Murray for McCourt (35 mins), Sean Colgan for Coughlan (41, injured), Anthony Moran for Moffatt (57), Michael Walshe for Murtagh (60).

Referee: Joe Fallon (Athlone).

Examiner's Eye on game

Man of the match

Jordan McDonnell (St Joseph’s). Ben Harte, Donal Coughlan and Kevin Smullen were strong in attack for The Downs, but they couldn’t cope with McDonnell at the other end. After spurning a goal chance early on, McDonnell went on to give a scoring exhibition.

Key moment

Josh Murtagh’s missed goal chance when The Downs were on top at the beginning of the final quarter proved costly.

Next up

St Joseph's meet St Loman's, Mullingar in the semi-final.