In that ten minutes St Pat’s led by a point before Declan McKeever equalised with a fine point from wide on the left for St Joseph’s. As a replay beckoned, or so we thought, St Pat’s attacked and Niall West and Eamonn Maguire pointed to give the Donagh men a two point lead deep into injury time. Still the game continued and Ederney had a chance to steal the game when a crossfield pass found Ciaran Aiken but he failed to make contact with the ball and the opportunity was gone. The game continued for a few minutes, thereafter, but St Pat’s held on for a narrow victory.

    Referee Seamus Gallagher came in for some stick at the end from the crowd for the amount of injury tme played. Certainly, there were many stoppages for injuires incurred in a hard hitting encounter but had the referee taken a sterner line early in the game by issuing yellow cards then perhaps there would have been less injuries and stoppages and by consequence less injury time.

    This was a tough sometimes bruising encounter during which a hungry St Joseph’s led for much of the way until the impressive Eamonn Maguire fired in a cracking goal that tied the game with five minutes of normal time remaining Thereafter, it was high drama until the end.

    By contrast, the opening half was relatively uneventful with St Pat’s starting brightly. Eamonn Maguire started at midfield where Shane McDermott was absent owing to an ankle injury although he was among the substitutes.

    Indeed, it was the diminutive Maguire who took the game to St Joseph’s firing over two early points, the latter following good approach play from Niall West and Kevin Maguire. Ederney replied with a pointed free from Darren McKeever before Eamonn Maguire collected a “45”, beat his man comfortably and fired over his third point and St Pat’s third point of the game to leave St Pat’s in the lead by 0-03 to 0-01 after ten minutes.

    The hard working St Joseph’s started to win more breaking ball around the middle with Raymond Kane pushing forward at every opportunity to take the game to St Pat’s. Kieran Daly made an incisive break through the heart of the Donagh defence to fire over a fine point to reduce the gap to a single point.

    The game then swung towards St Joseph’s when Peter Baird made a fine save from Kevin Maguire and minutes later an attempted point from Kieran Daly came back off an upright falling into the hands of the alert Sean McCaffery who neatly sidestepped Ciaran McMahon in the St Pat’s goal to put the ball in the net to give the Ederney men a vital goal and put them in the lead, 1-02 to 0-03.

    St Pat’s responded positively with Eamonn Maguire again finding the target and a Vinny McDermott point tied the scores in the 23rd minute. In betwen these two points, St Pat’s had another decent goal chance which they spurned, Niall McCaffery shooting wide on this occasion.

    St Joseph’s finished the half the stronger with Kieran Daly pointing, following an incisive run from Raymond Kane and Darren McKeever scored from wide on the left to leave the half time score at 1-04 to 0-05 in favour of the underdogs, St Joseph’s.

    If St Joseph’s were happy with the half time scoreline then they would have been delighted with the opening ten minutes of the second half as they dominated in all sectors, winnning all the breaking ball and knocking over three unanswered points to go five points clear. Darren McKeever knocked over a fine long range effort from play and Martin Monaghan added a second after good work from Darren and Declan McKeever. Darren McKeever fired over another free and with 40 minutes played St Joseph’s had taken the game by the scruff of the neck.

    St Pat’s brought on Shane McDermott and Darren Maguire, both of whom were carrying ankle injuries, in a desperate attempt to get back into the game. Points were then exchanged to leave the scoreline at 1-08 to 0-06 entering the final quarter. St Pat’s started to get on top and points from Darren and Gary Maguire left a goal between the teams. Then Shane McDermott won the ball 50 metres out, made a good initial break before passing to Eamonn Maguire who unleashed an unstoppable shot to the top left hand corner of the net for the goal of the Championship thus far.

    The sides were now level-1-08 to 1-08- and when Darren Maguire put St Pat’s a point ahead approaching full time you would have thought the drama was over. Darren McKeever had a chance to equalise but pulled his free wide. Then, Declan McKeever broke down the left and fired over a super point from near the touchline to tie the game.

    That was it I thought, a replay would be required. St Pat’s had other ideas and a swift break down the right allowed Niall West in behind the Ederney defence and he fisted the ball over the bar to put the Donagh men in the lead by a point. A minute later Eamonn Maguire fired over a super point to put two between the sides.

    Still the whistle did not go and St Joseph’s surged up the field looking for a goal which they so nearly got when the ball fizzed across the area but young Ciaran Aiken could not get a touch on the ball. Again we thought that was that but the teams both had an attack each but with no more scores an entertaining game ended with St Pat’s winners by 1-11 to 1-09.

    St Joseph’s can feel a little unlucky in that they dominated for certain periods especially either side of half time. The impressive Eamonn Maguire’s goal turned the game and while St Joseph’s battled manfully to the end, St Pat’s had that extra little edge.