St John's 3-20 Setanta 0-12
St John's eventually got their act together in impressive fashion as the Antrim champions saw off their Donegal counterparts Setanta by 17 points in Owenbeg on Saturday night.
Big underdogs from the off, Setanta found themselves five adrift at the change-over at 1-10 to 0-08. But they would grab the first two overs after the restart, and just a single green flag split the sides.
However, to the Saffron outfit’s credit, they finally found top gear as they outgunned their opponents 2-10 to 0-04 in a lopsided second period to comfortably ease through to the provincial decider.
Early on, Setanta opened with some intent, grabbing the first two points through Bernard Lafferty and a Gerard Golmore free.
St John’s soon settled, however, and would rattle off the next 1-03 uninterrupted to move four clear just shy of the ten-minute mark.
Conor Johnston started that scoring spurt spectacularly as he cut in from the right before firing low to the net.
Oisin Mac Manus, Conall Bohill and Shea Shannon tagged on the subsequent overs - all from play - as St John’s laid an impressive early marker.
Setanta would sever that momentum through another Gilmore free but, just like before, St John’s responded with interest.
Shannon would lob over from a free, while Micheal Dudley also got in on the scoring act. In between that, St John’s stopper Domhnall Nugent lashed over a placed sliotar from well inside his own half to leave it 1-6 to 0-3.
Either side of the opening quarter, another Gilmore free as well as a brilliant Danny Cullen ping from wide on the right, pulled the Donegal champions back to within four.
Mac Manus then moved St John’s out to 1-07 and a penalty opportunity for the leaders provided the opportunity to open up an eight-point deficit.
But with Nugent blazing that chance over the crossbar, that left it 1-08 to 0-05 with ten to go until the interval.
Gilmore landed his fourth free of the evening but a Mac Manus brace helped widen the gap to seven.
But with Ryan Coyle and Cullen hitting the mark just before the short whistle, five split the sides at the turnaround.
Gilmore clipped two frees on the resumption but Mac Manus would match that feat down the other side.
And when Johnston grabbed a second goal for St John’s, that really was the contest’s definitive turning point as they finally shook a battling Setanta from their backs.
Mac Manus and Shannon added to their respective tallies as 2-14 now led 0-10. Gilmore looked to mount a response with another free but three more Mac Manus efforts, two from play, meant they went into the fourth and final quarter 11 clear.
St John’s third and final goal was fortuitous as Kevin Campbell, attempting to clear his lines, saw that drive blocked down by Donal Carson as the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Before the end, Gilmore brought the scoring down on Setanta’s night while the excellent Mac Manus, twice, and Enda McGurk rounded off the evening for the winners.
St John’s: Domhnall Nugent (0-02, 2f); Ryan McNulty, Ronan Donnelly, Jack Bohill; Conal Morgan, Peter McCallin, Enda McGurk (0-01); Sean Wilson, Aaron Bradley; Michial Dudley (0-01), Conor Johnston (2-00), Conall Bohill (0-01); Donal Carson (1-00), Shea Shannon (0-03, 3f), Oisin Mac Manus (0-12, 9f).
Subs: Michael Bradley for Donnelly (19), Dan McKeogh for McCallin (50), Lorcan Heenan and Daragh McGuinness for Carson and Dudley (both 55), James Wilson for Shannon (57).
Setanta: Kevin Campbell; Ruairi McLaughlin, Steven McBride, Mark Callaghan; Dean Harvey, Bernard Lafferty (0-01), Declan Coulter; Conor McGettigan, Gerard Gilmore (0-08, 8f); Danny Cullen (0-02), Fionn Farren, Ruairi Campbell; Sean Ward, Josh Cronnolly McGee, Ryan Coyle (0-01).
Subs: Oisin Marley for Farren (43), Niall Cleary for Ward (52), Jason Patton and Ryan Callaghan for Lafferty and Callaghan (both 58).
Referee: Barry Winters (Tyrone).
