Late injury time goal blast sees St Mary's through St Kiernan's scare in Ruislip
ST KIERNAN'S 1-8 ST MARY'S KILTOGHERT 3-8
Two injury time goals saw St Mary’s Kiltoghert book their place in the AIB Connacht Club SFC Semi-Finals but not without an awful scare from an impressive St Kiernan’s team on Saturday in McGovern Emerald Park in Ruislip.
Injury time goals from Jack Barnes and Nicholas McWeeney give a flattering look to the scoreline as St Mary’s only drew level with the London champions a minute into added time, having trailed by three points midway through the second half in Ruislip.
The victory sees St Mary’s set up a Connacht Semi-Final clash at home next weekend with Sligo champions Tourlestrane.
Jack Casey opened the scoring for St Mary’s after just 12 seconds but Chris Farley had the sides level after three minutes from a free. Paul Keaney edged the Leitrim champions back in front before Marcus Mangan tied the scores once more.
The game burst into life just nine minutes in when Kenny O’Connor fired the ball to the St Mary’s net and the Londoners stretched to lead to five points with points from Farley and Odhran Kerr by the midway point of the first half.
Casey pulled back a point for the Leitrim visitors and St Mary’s really got themselves back in contention when Diarmuid Kelleher struck for a goal after 20 minutes. Another from Gavin Reynolds tied the scores in added time to leave the sides level at 1-4 apiece at the halftime break.
Conor Hackett edged St Mary’s back into the lead three minutes into the second half before Chris Farley fired over to tie the scores a minute later. St Kiernan’s then took a grip of the game with two points from Kenny O’Connor and one from Farley over the next eight minutes.
That left St Mary’s with a daunting three point deficit but they started to claw their way back into the contest with points from David O’Connell and Paul Keaney (free) on 47 and 50 minutes.
However, the scoring rate slowed as St Kiernan’s were holding out until Keaney fired over an equalising free after 61 minutes of play. Extra time looked on the cards but St Mary’s had other ideas with Jack Barnes striking for a killer goal over four minutes into added time.