Louth GAA club | Joes beat the drop as Geraldines are relegated

St Josephs retained their Louth Senior Championship status at the expense of neighbours Geraldines after coming through a tightly fought battle in in the relegation play-off final at Darver on Friday night.

It was a contest that remained in the balance all the way to the final whistle but ultimately it was an Alan Quigley goal and a late Shane Barron save that saw the Joes over the line.

The early minutes of this local derby saw the Geraldines have the better of possession with an opening point from Dan Corcoran on two minutes. However, the Joes opened their account when Pearse Grimes Murphy created space to shoot over, quickly followed by a fine long range point from Oisin McGuinness. Grimes Murphy then cut in from the left to fist over a third point in as many minutes.

The Geraldines were denied an opening goal when Rian Devlin blocked a close range effort before the sides exchanged points with Craig Doherty pointing and Shane O’Hanlon on target from a free to leave the Joes ahead by 0-4 to 0-2 at the end of first quarter.  

Shane O’Hanlon was on target again for the Geraldines, this time from open play but Ben Collier replied from a free after good work by Conall McCaul.

A superb two pointer from Conall Smyth stretched the Joes lead to four on 20 minutes but soon after the Geraldines raised the first green flag when Michael Rogers raced through to rifle an unstoppable shot to the roof of the Joes net.

The final score of the half came for the Joes in added time from an Alan Quigley close in free, putting his side ahead by 0-8 to 1-3.

It was the Geraldines who drew first blood of the second half when Gareth Neacy landed an excellent two-pointer to put the teams level with just two minutes gone. The Joes regained the lead courtesy of Conor Neary who took the ball down the right wing to hit a fine point, with Smyth adding another soon after.

However, the margin was again down to a single point when Michael Rogers pointed a 45 for the Geraldines, leaving the scoreboard reading 0-10 to 1-6 just before the end of the third quarter. 

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The game swung towards the Joes in a four minute spell that saw them hit 1-3. Another strong run by Grimes Murphy was finished by Conall Smyth, and a minute later the Joes swept forward in a quick exchange of passes that saw Alan Quigley palm the ball to the net.

Two further points from Grimes Murphy and Conor Neary had the Joes lead out to seven, 1-13 to 1-6 on 47 minutes. The Geraldines struck back immediately, with Danny Nordone breaking down the right to cut through to crash the ball to the Joes net, but in the next attack it was Killian Staunton who calmly struck over a fine score for the Joes. 

It was down to a single score game as the Geraldines added two points to leave the scoreline at 1-14 to 2-8 with two minutes of normal time remaining. A second yellow for Jamie Callan had the Geraldines down to 14 and the Joes went ahead by four as Ben Collier converted the resultant free. With four minutes of added time it required some heroic defending from the Joes defence who repeatedly cleared their lines, while Shane Barron tipped a Nordone effort over the bar.

Deep in stoppage time Jack Mulligan dropped over the all-important insurance point for the Joes to secure a crucial win.

St Josephs: Shane Barron; Ciaran Johnston, David Kieran, Rian Devlin; Ben McKeown, Cormac McKeown, Conor Neary (0-2); Killian Staunton (0-1), Oisin McGuinness (0-1); Conall McCaul, Craig Doherty (0-1); Ben Collier (0-2); Alan Quigley (1-1), Conall Smyth (0-4), Pearse Grimes Murphy (0-3). Subs: Michael O’Brien, Jack Mulligan (0-1). 

Geraldines: Cian O’Donoghue; Ryan Trainor, Gareth Neacy 0-2 (2p), John McCrohan; Jamie Callan, Dan Corcoran 0-1, Jack Traynor; Michael Rogers 1-1, Thomas McNamara; Matt Corcoran, Beanón Corrigan, David O’Connell; Danny Nordone 1-1, Shane O’Hanlon 0-2, Ben Gartlan 0-2. Subs: Cian Farrell for J Traynor, Jack McGailey for R Trainor, James Craven for D O’Connell, Niall Brennan for B Gartlan.