Danske Bank Loch an Iuir Cup final
Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore 3-8 St Ronan’s, Lurgan 6-10
AN avalanche of second-half goals at the Eoghan Ruadh Hurling Grounds in Dungannon last night saw St Ronan’s, Lurgan lift the Danske Bank Loch an Iuir title in front of a sizeable crowd.
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There was no sign of what was to come at the break, with the sides level 1-6 each in a period that only really came to life in the closing stages.
St Ronan’s enjoyed a blistering start to the game with points from Michael Mullholland, Jack Geoghegan and Rioghan McKinney all inside four minutes.
Gearoid McElhatton then opened the Dean’s account at the beginning of a good spell for the Tyrone school. Micheal McCrystal knocked over a brace of frees before Conor Molloy charged through from centre half-back to put them in front. PK Murphy and McCrystal then both tagged on points to leave it 0-6 to 0-3 by the 22nd minute.
The winners hit back to level thanks to scores from Michael McConville and Alfie Walsh before Sean McGlinchey palmed in a Dean Maguirc goal. St Ronan’s, though, had the final say of the half when Caiden Conway first-timed to the net to leave it all square.
The second half was only seconds old when Conway converted a penalty and the Armagh school never looked back. Murphy took a good score for Dean Maguirc before Geoghegan drove over at the other end.
At the end of the third quarter, a mistake in the Dean Maguirc defence saw Geoghegan first-time to the net to open up a gap.
Eoin Geoghegan then came off the bench to raise a green flag and that was quickly followed by a brace of goals from Mulholland. To their credit Dean Maguirc played to the final whistle with McElhatton and Damhan Meenah, the latter’s coming moments after he had a penalty save. They proved to be only two consolation scores as St.Ronans emerged deserving winners on the night after a blistering second-half display.
Danske Bank MacRory Cup Section B, round five
Cathair Dhoire 1-6 St Joseph’s, Donaghmore 0-9
St Joseph’s, Donaghmore staged a dramatic comeback to grab a share off the spoils for a result that was enough to book the final last-16 spot in this season’s Danske Bank MacRory Cup and send newcomers Cathair Dhoire crashing out of the competition.
This was a winner-takes-all clash at Celtic Park yesterday evening between two sides who went into the game with nothing to show for their efforts and it looked as though the hosts were going to prevail.
Cathair Dhoire were three points in front and a man to the good after Donaghmore had lost Larry Shields to a black card in the 54th minute, but St Joseph’s rallied to hit the last three scores of the game, with substitute Darragh Devlin proving to be the hero with two of them.
It means that last season’s semi-finalists advance as their scoring difference was just one better than that of their opponents.
Despite playing against the wind, Cathair Dhoire made a dream start when the opening score was a goal from Oran Donnelly.
Tiernan McFeely then tagged on a point but that proved to be their last score of the half.
It took St Joseph’s until the 13th minute to open their account, from an Eoghan O’Neill free, and Conal Quinn and Darragh Donaghy tagged on points to leave them one adrift at the break, 1-1 to 0-3.
With the wind at their backs, the Derry lads landed four out of the first five points in the second half through Caoimhin Wray (2), Cathal Deery and Jude Bryson and they looked to be in complete control.
A Donaghy free and one from play from Marty Coyle reduced the deficit but then Shields was black-carded and Deery converted a free.
St Josephs now had it all to do but they refused to accept defeat, with Charlie McNulty and Devlin closing the gap to the minimum before the latter got the priceless equaliser with just a minute left on the clock.
Danske Bank Leonard Cup semi-final:
St Patrick’s Maghera 4-16 St Mary’s CBGS Belfast 0-5
ST Patrick’s Maghera’s comprehensive semi-final victory in Ahoghill yesterday over St Mary’s CBGS has set up the first ever Derry derby final in Ulster schools’ hurling.
Gaelcholáiste Dhoire had already reached the Danske Bank Leonard Cup final after a 3-12 to 2-7 victory over Cross & Passion Ballycastle a couple of weeks ago and now Maghera will join them in the final.
St Patrick’s were getting the upper-hand during the early stages of yesterday’s game, but it wasn’t until Don Mulholland took a pass from David Hasson to hit the net in the 7th minute that they had anything to show for it.
Pádraig Kelly responded almost immediately with a pointed free for St Mary’s. But the rest of the first half was dominated by Maghera with a kicked goal from Seán O’Hara bringing them through to an interval advantage of 2-6 to 0-3.
Within 60 seconds of the re-start O’Hara grabbed his second goal when he won possession in the right corner and fired into the roof of the net. Donncha Collins added three frees and Oisín Burke clipped over two from play with only two Matthew O’Neill points in reply.
The Maghera subs got in on the action in the final five minutes with Ronan O’Loughlin pointing and Ben Bradley sending Aaron McGonigle through for the fourth goal.
