Fleming and Kelly lead two pointer surge for St Joseph's

St Joseph's SS 2-19, St Aidan's CBS 0-7

An impressive run of two-pointers at the start of the second half ensured a comprehensive victory for St Joseph’s Secondary School, Rochfortbridge, over St Aidan's CBS, Whitehall, in the Br Bosco Cup at Dovida Lakepoint Park on Thursday.

Having lost by four points against Naas CBS in the first round of the Leinster PPS Senior Football ‘A’ Championship, this was a crucial win for St Joseph’s and gets them back into the race. The emphatic nature of their win underlines the potential within the group and they will hope to build on this against stronger opposition.

At half-time, St Joseph's led by 2-5 to 0-4 courtesy of goals from Dean Kelly and Jack Duignan. Kelly’s was a neat finish, low to the net, while Duignan’s shot was fumbled by the opposing goalkeeper. However, it was the quality of their shooting from distance after the break that impressed more. Midfielder Cian Fleming, Kelly and Jack Carroll each shot two-pointers in the opening four minutes, while Carroll added another in the 40th minute to give St Joseph’s a commanding lead - 2-14 to 0-4. From there the outcome was never in doubt.

While St Aidan’s took the lead in this game through wing back Reece Curley, who shot a fine point, they were quickly overhauled as Dean Kelly’s free got St Joseph's off the mark before he found the net in the 10th minute, Jack Carroll’s darting run and pass creating the chance for the lively full-forward.

The St Joseph’s full-forward line looked sharp, Jack Duignan pouncing for a goal on 12 minutes, while Cian Fleming set up Cian McKeogh for a tidy point. St Aidan’s CBS managed only frees in reply and a fine Fleming point from 35 metres kept St Joseph’s firmly in control. A terrific point with the outside of the right boot by midfielder Hayden Mullins, from a difficult angle (35 metres out on the wing) was one of the game’s highlights, but Kelly’s late free ensured St Joseph's were leading by six at the interval. Cormac McKeogh and Carroll combined to set up Fleming for a fine two-pointer as the second half began, and that was the cue for St Joseph’s to kick on. With the slight breeze behind them, they quickly took a complete stranglehold, Kelly and Carroll (two) each added two-pointers.

Carroll’s two-pointer after 10 minutes was excellent, a slick move starting with ‘keeper Kian Campbell and ending with the corner forward showing impressive accuracy from distance.

Carroll followed with a point that had St Joseph's leading by 2-15 to 0-6 at the end of the third quarter and they looked much superior in all sectors.

St Aidan’s did create some good openings and had goal chances, but Kian Campbell was assured between the posts for the Rochfortbridge side. Substitute Che Mitchell looked lively and chipped in with two points, but a couple of goal attempts were off target. Corner-forward Eric Boland was denied by Campbell late on.

There were a few tetchy off-the-ball exchanges, completely unnecessary given that the result had long since been decided. Thankfully there were enough cool heads on the pitch to keep things from boiling over.

Scorers - St Joseph’s: J Carroll 0-8 (2tp; 1f), D Kelly 1-5 (1tp; 2f), J Duignan 1-0, C Fleming 0-3 (1tp), Cian McKeogh, S Speller and D Briody 0-1 each.

St Aidan's: J Browne (1f) and C Mitchell 0-2 each, R Curley, E Boland (free) and H Mullins 0-1 each.

St Joseph’s SS Rochfortbridge: Kian Campbell; Thomas Donoghue, Oisin McCauley, Darragh Weblin; Cian McKeogh, Eoghan Daly, Nathan Hall; Cormac McKeogh, Cian Fleming; Tom Shaw, Sean Corrigan, Sean Speller; Jack Carroll, Dean Kelly, Jack Duignan. Subs: Oisin Murray for Corrigan, Donnchadh Briody and Shaun McCann for Duignan and Weblin, Owen Bagnall for Shaw, Brooklin Mongey for Cian McKeogh.

St Aidan’s CBS Whitehall: Conor Prendergast; Leo Thunder, Matthew Smith, John McDermott; Sam Hesnan, Evan Walsh, Reece Curley; Cormac Donnan, Hayden Mullins; Pauric Tuite, Jack Staunton, Sean Stapo; Eric Boland, Paddy Moher, Jude Browne. Subs: Che Mitchell and Kevin Gray for Moher and McDermott, Leon Laban for Thunder, Mikey McLoughlin for Stapo.

Ref: Niall Ward (Garrycastle).