Danske Bank O’Doherty Cup semi-final: St Malachy’s, Castlewellan v Rathmore Grammar, Belfast (Thursday, St Colman’s, Newry, 12pm)
THE second Danske Bank O’Doherty Cup semi-final has been brought forward to Thursday and should be a well-contested affair in St Colman’s Newry.
Rathmore Grammar will perhaps have a slight edge going into the game as they had a great battle with St Patrick’s Keady just before the mid-term break in the last of the quarter-finals. Rathmore prevailed by 3-8 to 2-8 with goals from Malachi Doherty, Daire Matthews and Ethan Carlton.
A number of their panel is involved in Antrim underage squads, but they were out-muscled by St Columb’s Derry in the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup play-offs back in December. However, the result against Keady will have restored team confidence and, if Conall Turley, Caomhan Daykin, Matthew Hamill and Daire Matthews get going, they should have a great chance of reaching the final.
St Malachy’s, Castlewellan, however, will not be easily knocked out of their stride after impressive wins in recent weeks over St Joseph’s, Crossmaglen and St Malachy’s, Belfast. In those games, the Liatroim Fontenoys’ pair of Conor McCrickard and Oisin Duggan, Kilcoo’s Diarmuid McEvoy and Loughinisland’s Declan McClements really stepped up to the mark.
The U16 team was being heavily tipped to take the Rafferty Cup back in November but lost their way in the first 15 minutes against eventual champions St Ciaran’s Ballygawley in the semi-final. Several of that team have pushed themselves into this older team and carry a scoring threat.
With neighbours St Mark’s, Warrenpoint already through to the final, Castlewellan will have an extra incentive to do well. However, Rathmore look the stronger team on paper and they should squeeze through to next month’s decider.
