Harps Hurlers rally to defeat St Jude's

AHL4 League 

 St Jude’s 3-14 (23) 

Skerries Harps: 1-23 (26)

By Denis Murphy

Despite conceding three first half goals our AHL 4 squad came away from Tymon Park last Saturday evening with an excellent three-point victory to continue their strong early season form. 

From the throw in Jude’s delivered a long ball into the Skerries goalmouth and a heavy touch from the normally reliable Harps goalie Cian Coleman resulted in the Judes attacker batting the rebound to the net. To the visitors credit they did not let this set back deflate them. In the third minute a pinpoint puck out from Coleman, the first of many during the game, found Dara Cullen whose long pass provided Matt Dooley with the opportunity to open the scoring. This settled the Harps, and they dominated the rest of the first quarter. On the fifth minute a turnover, earned by a great block by Cullen at midfield, led to Sean Graham racing through the middle and laying off the perfect pass for Aidan Kehoe to finish powerfully to the net. A series of points from the Graham brothers and Kehoe had the Harps 1-5 to 1-1 ahead at the mid-way point in the half. 

At that point Judes managed to breach the Harps defence and their wing forward gave Coleman no chance with a rasping shot. The Harps responded strongly, and the same three scorers added three points to increase the margin to four points again. However, Judes struck for a third goal on the 22nd minute when their corner forward crashed a fine shot to the Harps net. The sides then traded points to leave them deadlocked at 1-11 to 3-5 at half time. 

Half time substitute James Kenny put the Harps ahead with a score from out near the side-line following an astute pass from Adam Kiernan. Kiernan was to have a huge influence on the game in this half, winning possession and providing scoring opportunities for his forward colleagues. Additional points from Dooley, David Graham and second half substitutes Julian Kearney (2) and Simon Connolly had the Harps three ahead at the three-quarter stage. A fact that the Harps will need to address is that their opponents five scores in the third quarter came from frees, not having conceded a scorable free for all of the first half.  

The Harps defended that lead by matching their opponents point for point. David Graham, supplied by Kiernan, had a goal bound effort brilliantly saved but converted the resultant 65. The Harps defence worked tirelessly throughout this half to deny Judes any further goal opportunities. Whilst the home team added two points in injury time the Harps returned home with the two league points gained and now sit joint top of the table after 5 games. 

Despite the goal lapses the Harps defenders performed well led by Rory Boylan in the corner and wing backs Ian Furlong and Euan Walsh. The hard-working pair of Niall Connolly and Dara Cullen had the upper hand at midfield, with Cullen moving successfully to defence in the second half. Aidan Kehoe was a strong presence at full forward and his first half tally of 1-3 was critical to the eventual outcome. The Graham brothers continued their strong scoring contributions and Kenny, Kearney and Connolly made a positive impact on their introduction.  

Scorers for Skerries; David Graham 0-8 (4f,2’65), Aidan Kehoe 1-3, Sean Graham 0-4,  

Matt Dooley 0-3, Julian Kearney 0-2, Simon Connolly, James Kenny and Adam Kiernan 0-1 each.