St Mary’s made a few positional changes prior to kick off with Niall McGinnity taking up the goalkeepers gloves allowing Aidan Begley to bolster the backline, Oran Mc Naughton pushed on into midfield while Jack Parke was restored up front to partner the inform Eoin O’Reilly.
St Mary’s had revenge on their minds, having fallen to an early season defeat against Red Star and the Glengormley side adapted well to the windy conditions right from kick off. On ten minutes, Oisin Donaghy forced a corner down the right and Eoin McNicholls’ deft cross was met by the boot of Eoin O’Reilly for the opening goal.
Both sides tried their luck from distance with St Mary’s netminder McGinnity happy to push a long range effort past the upright while marauding fullback Oisin Donaghy forced a smart save from the Red Star netminder down low.
But the second St Mary’s goal wasn’t long in arriving when good interplay down the left from Aidan Quinn, Cormac Morgan and Jack Parke on fifteen minutes resulted in another corner kick. Eoin McNicholl’s delivery was again precise with O’Reilly volleying home inside the area for his second goal of the game.
St Mary’s midfield kingpin Patrick Ross fired an effort narrowly over the crossbar as the interval approached.
Red Star as expected opened the second period with all guns blazing and forced St Mary’s back into their own half but the St Mary’s defensive quartet of Aidan Begley, Aidan Quinn, Oliver Breen and Oisin Donaghy stood up strong and were in no mood to surrender their advantage.
St Mary’s introduced Conal Breen, Carhal McGarrity and Trevor McCormick from the bench and all made a telling contribution as the play flowed from end to end with Oran McNaughton coming close to adding a further score and Eoin McNicholl’s free kick rebounded to safety via the woodwork.
But there was still work to be done at the other end to secure the full three points with McNicholl and skipper Breen combining to bravely charge down a goal bound effort and in the dting minutes Niall McGinnity was at full stretch to tip a late Red Star effort past the upright.
Manager McNulty was relieved to put an end to a recent run of moral sapping defeats and was equally delighted with a defensive clean sheet adding 'any one of the defensive line could have laid claim to the man of the match plaudits but Aidan Begley impressed on his first outfield appearance in several weeks and deservedly claimed the award'.
