Danske Bank MacRory Cup
Section A, round four
St Colman’s, Newry 0-8 Southwest Donegal 0-7
SUB Ryan Cookson was the St Colman’s hero with the final two points of the game as they came from behind to inflict a first defeat on Southwest Donegal at Garvaghey.
This was a second win of the campaign for the Newry lads and it means that there is still plenty to play for at both ends of the table going into the final round of fixtures.
Southwest midfielder Darragh Hennigan opened the scoring only for wing half-back Aaron Garvey to level. Corey Clerkin then edged Colman’s in front but Southwest midfielder Shane Callaghan brought the sides level when he fired over from close range when a goal was on the cards.
Danny Brown and Clerkin exchanged points, before Eoin Branniff put the Down school back in front. But that advantage was short-lived as Eoghan Ban McNeilis made it 0-4 apiece at half-time.
It took seven minutes for the opening score of the second half to arrive as a blistering 60-metre run from Hennigan finished with him taking a point when they had an overlap and a chance of a possible goal.
Eoin Duffy responded instantly for St Colman’s with the score of the game from a narrow angle out on the left before sub Colm Doherty put the Donegal lads back in front.
A well-struck 45 from the boot of Clerkin was the first of three points in as many minutes as Brown and Cookson registered points for their respective sides at the beginning of the final quarter.
The closing stages produced just a single score from a Cookson free on the right, though Southwest Donegal can count themselves unlucky not to have grabbed a share off the spoils when a late effort from Liam Bhreathnach came back off the post before being cleared.
St Colman’s C Clerkin 0-3 (0-1 45); R Cookson 0-2 (0-1f); A Garvey 0-1, E Branniff & E Duffy 0-1 each
Southwest Donegal D Hennigan & D Brown (1f) 0-2 each; S Callaghan, EB McNeilis & C Doherty 0-1 each
Section D, round three
St Patrick’s, Dungannon 1-9 St Paul’s, Bessbrook 1-7
ST Patrick’s Academy collected their first points as a strong first-half performance laid the platform for this win in Mullaghbawn.
Eoin Long kicked the opening three scores for the winners inside eight minutes with two of those from play before Fergal Boylan opened Bessbrook’s account from a placed ball.
Shea Loughran closed the gap further before a fisted effort from Conor Holmes left Dungannon leading 0-4 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter.
Ronan Martin then left the minimum between the sides again but that proved to be St Paul’s last score of the first half. Long kicked his fourth of the game before midfielder James Mulgrew stretched their lead further.
In the 28th minute, a shot from Joel Kerr came back off the post and while Holmes was thwarted by keeper Ciaran McCann from the rebound the ball fell for Lorcan McMurray to score into an empty net.
Dungannon had their tails up but the first score of the second half saw their advantage halved as Loughran cut the ball back for Boylan to raise a green flag in the 38th minute. A couple of minutes later Daithi O’Callaghan cut in from the wing to fire over and now all the momentum looked to be with the Armagh school.
Mulgrew got a much-needed Academy score with his second of the night but Boylan from play and then from a free saw the deficit reduced to the minimum going into the final 10 minutes.
A long-range free from Long lifted the siege but going into injury-time it was still very much up for grabs after attacking half-back Fionn Toale pointed.
The Academy, though, weren’t to be denied with substitute Eoin O’Neill landing the insurance point three minutes into injury time.
St Patrick’s E Long 0-5 (0-3f); L McMurray 1-0; J Mulgrew 0-2; C Holmes & E O’Neill 0-1 each
St Paul’s F Boylan 1-3 (0-2f); S Loughran, R Martin, D O’Callaghan & F Toale 0-1 each
