By Steven McVeigh, St Louis Kilkeel

St. Louis Kilkeel and St. Pat's Keady have served up many a fine game in recent meeting in Ulster Colleges football, so this Herald Cup qualifying match proved no exception. Played in fine conditions in Newry, these two rival colleges fought hard for the points, but the end result of a draw was perhaps the fairest outcome on the day.

It was Keady who started the more lively, as the notched up three early points without reply. The Kilkeel school were struggling to get into their stride, but the inevitable influence of Martin Clarke soon began to show. A fine solo run from his own half back line saw Clarke lay off a well time ball to Patrick Bourke who blasted the ball into the roof of the Keady net. Clarke then added a point before Keady replied with two points on the counter-attack to regain the lead.

The game was settling down to a real battle in the mid-field area, until Martin Clarke scored a fine individual goal to put St. Louis in command. However, the closely marked Clarke was receiving some over enthusiastic attention from the Keady defence and yellow cards were issued as the referee restored calm to the proceedings. Clarke added another point from a free, which Keady replied with the same. A second goal just before the whistle sent St. Louis into the break with the score reading, St. Louis 3-03, Keady 0-06.

The second half began with a clear spell of dominance by the Kilkeel school. With the mid-field pair of Gerard McCartan and Hugh Magee dominating, the Mourne forwards were receiving a lot of quality ball. Luke Toner and Peter Fitzpatrick looked very comfortable as they set about tormenting the Keady defence. However, the game was turned on its head with an incident which resulted in a second yellow card for Martin Clarke. Kilkeel spent the rest of the game defending their lead.

Keady began to pile on the pressure during the final twenty minutes and the Kilkeel defence were heroic in their efforts. The Mourne school managed to get two points on the counter-attack and could have wrapped up the contest but for a glaring miss which should have resulted in a goal. As Keady were pounding away relentlessly at the Mourne defence, the Kilkeel lads conceded a penalty, which was well executed giving Colm Curran no chance. This proved to be the last score of the game and Keady would probably view the outcome as a missed opportunity, whilst the Kilkeel school would view it as a let off. However, the Kilkeel team showed that they were not a one-man team as others rose bravely to the needs of their team when the chips were down.

St. Louis Team;
Colm Curran (Bryansford), Kevin Quinn (Atticall), John Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin), Luke Byrne (Bryansford), Andrew Sloan (Atticall) 0-1, Eamon Kelly (Rostrevor), Fergal Doyle (An Riocht), Gerard McCartan (Rostrevor), Hugh Magee (Longstone), Martin Clarke (An Riocht) 1-2, Luke Toner (Castlewellan) 0-2, Peter Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin), Christopher Morgan (Atticall), Patrick Bourke (Rostrevor) 2-0, John Magee (Atticall)

Subs; Christopher Killen (An Riocht), Liam Harper (An Riocht), Ryan O'Hare (Ballymartin), Ryan Sloan (Atticall), Allen Murney (An Riocht), Liam O'Hare (Ballymartin), Michael Hardy (An Riocht), Damien Sherry (An Riocht), James Clerkin (Rostrevor), Conor Fitzpatrick (Ballymartin).