Danske Bank MacRory Cup round two
Section B: Abbey CBS 1-10 St Ronan’s, Lurgan 2-7
EOIN Loughran rescued a draw for Abbey CBS when he popped over a free with the last kick of an entertaining tie in Páirc Esler.
It was Abbey’s second draw in the competition and, on balance, they probably deserved it after coming back from goals from St Ronan’s 10 minutes apart in the third quarter.
Although Abbey opened up a three-point lead after 20 minutes with a brace of points each from Eoin Loughran and Rory Powell, two late frees from Ethan McKenna saw the Lurgan side turn over trailing by just 0-4 to 0-3.
A goal from sub Thomas Mellon in the 35th minute put St Ronan’s ahead for the first time, but Loughran (two frees) and Powell levelled matters before they were hit with a second goal from Tom Laverty after 44 minutes.
Although Jamie Powell quickly responded with a goal and a point and Caolán O’Hare added another point to put Abbey two up, Lurgan hit back with three points in the final 10 minutes.
The last of those scores from Caoimhín Toland looked like winning the game for the visitors until Loughran’s late salvo.
Abbey CBS scorers: J Powell 1-1; E Loughran 0-5 (0-4f); R Powell 0-3; C O’Hare 0-1
St Ronan’s scorers: T Mellon & T Laverty 1-0 each; E McKenna 0-3f; P Dowdy, C Henderson,
J Austin & C Toland 0-1 each
Section B
Patrician, Carrickmacross 0-10 St Macartan’s, Monaghan 1-8
THE key score in this Monaghan derby in Corduff arrived six minutes from time when Dylan Reilly goaled.
That put St Macartan’s into a 1-8 to 0-7 lead after they had traded points throughout with their county neighbours.
It opened a gap for the first time, though that gap was almost closed again in a storming finish from Patrician that yielded points for Cian Duffy, Conor Jones and Packie Dougan-Burke.
Scores were at a premium earlier in the game with James Maguire hitting two of the four Carrick nabbed in the first half, while Finlay Foye also struck twice for the Sem and the teams turned around level.
Despite losing a player to a black card for the first 10 minutes of the second half, Cian Duffy on three occasions edged Patrician ahead, but each time Tommy Mallon or Foye equalised.
Mallon put St Macartan’s ahead just before the arrival of the goal that prompted Patrician’s late rally that came up just short.
Patrician: C Duffy 0-5; J Maguire 0-2; D Honey, P Dougan-Burke & C Jones 0-1 each
St Macartan’s: D Reilly 1-0; T Mallon & F Foye 0-3 each; S Óg McIlwaine & E Doogan-Ballantine 0-1 each
Section C
Holy Trinity, Cookstown 2-11 St Mary’s, Magherafelt 1-9
Holy Trinity, Cookstown produced an outstanding second-half display at Paddy Cullen Park to come from behind and beat defending champions St Mary’s, Magherafelt in a keenly contested encounter.
The holders led by four points at the break and they were full value for that advantage against opponents who failed to register from play.
The second half was a totally different story as the winners outscored their opponents 2-8 to 1-2 to collect their first points of the campaign.
Niall O’Donnell and Jack Martin swapped early points before Magherafelt took a stranglehold on proceedings. Conall Higgins hit a brace with attacking half-back James Sargent registering three times.
The Derry lads could well have been out of sight as they spurned three good goal chances. Late frees from Martin and Michael McElhatton left it 0-7 to 0-3 at the interval before the game was turned on its head.
The opening attack of the second half yielded a point from Shea McCann and by the 34th minute the Tyrone school had closed the gap to the minimum thanks to efforts from Liam Lawn and Ryan Quinn.
In the 37th minute a sweeping move finished with Conhuir Johnston offloading for Sargent to fire to the net but from there until the final whistle it was Holy Trinity who dominated.
Hugh J Cunningham pointed before a mistake at the back from John Lavery was punished by a Quinn goal to level matters. McCann and Luke Burns traded points before Cormac Devlin and Martin pointed for the winners.
With time running out the lively Lawn cut in from the right and got a shot away which took a defection on its way to the net.
The same player then tagged on a point and while St.Mary’s had the final say through Johnston it was Holy Trinity’s day.
Holy Trinity scorers: L Lawn 1-2; R Quinn 1-1; J Martin 0-3f; S McCann 0-2; M McElhatton (f), H Cunningham & C Devlin 0-1 each
St Mary’s scorers: J Sargent 1-3; L Burns & C Higgins 0-2 each; N O’Donnell & C Johnston (f) 0-1 each
