'I thought we nearly threw it away' – Blake reflects on St Mary’s Junior B win

St Mary’s, Convoy forward Peter Blake praised the effort of his team as they marched to their second Junior B championship on Saturday in O’Donnell Park, with a one-point win over Carndonagh. 

Despite the Convoy men leading 2-5 to 0-5 at the break, Carndonagh responded strongly in the second half with Michael Noone and Olan McLaughlin hammering home two goals to leave it all in the air, with the final possibly swinging either way in the dying minutes of the game. 

But St Mary’s raised three green flags throughout the 60 minutes, with Blake tallying a total of 2-6, with Brendan Bonner nailing the third goal to see St Mary’s hold off for a 3-8 to 2-10 point win as they landed their third reserve title in-a-row, after winning the Intermediate B championship two seasons ago. 

“I honestly thought we threw it away,” Blake said after the match. “We were comfortable at half time and I thought we were going to continue to play the way we did in the first half, but fair dues to Carndonagh, they came out straight away in the second half and brought it back to a one-point game. 

“We were lucky to get a third goal midway through the second half when Brendan Bonner slipped one in, so between the two of us getting those goals we’re happy. But it’s great for the club because this junior team, we’re only working off a squad of 18 or 19 players, so we’re happy to have won today.” 

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The final result was that Blake picked up the Man of the Match award, but the inside forward just saw that as an added bonus, noting that many of his teammates stepped up to the plate when called upon to see his side to victory. 

“Carndonagh came in as big favourites, so to beat them is great,” he said. “I don’t really care about Man of the Match honours as long as we win, and everything else is just an added bonus. 

“It was nervy stuff because Mark Gordon pulled off a great save to keep us in front before half-time, we then kicked a couple of wides in the second half, which I thought it might not be our day because Carn got right back into it, but we stood firm at the end and it’s just a great day for the club.” 

“That’s three B championships in-a-row. I wasn’t a part of the last two, but I was involved in the Junior A in 2020 but there was no crowd that day with Covid, so I think this means more than that because we can celebrate with supporters. 

“We lost the first two games this season in Junior B, and I thought, this is going to be a long season for the reserves but we got the win today and it’s a brilliant feeling.”