MacRory Cup: Abbey CBS 3-13 St Macartan’s, Monaghan 2-8
CLOSE on injury-time in this Danske Bank MacRory Cup game in Silverbridge yesterday, St Macartan’s still had a chance of getting something out of the tie.
However, in added-time Niall Courtney broke lose to fire to the net and Conor Cox and Aodhan McEvoy quickly added points to give the score-line a more emphatic look about it than the balance of play suggested.
It started off at a hectic pace with three goals in the opening eight minutes of play.
Lorcan Forde was first to fire low to the Monaghan net, but Aaron Mohan responded with a goal in the sixth minute to which Remy McKenna added in the eighth putting St Macartan’s ahead 2-0 to 1-0.
Abbey responded with three points, two of them from Ronan Fegan before McKenna edged the Sem ahead once more, but back came Abbey to go ahead 1-7 to 2-2 at the turnover but now facing into a stiff breeze.
However, the Newry team, buoyed by a 35th minute goal from Lorcan Forde, kept control of the game despite a good rally of points from Monaghan.
They led by 2-11 to 2-8 and were under a good bit of pressure when a break upfield put Niall Courtney in the clear and he secured the points for the Newry side, who will face St Ronan’s, Lurgan in their next game on Tuesday.
St Macartan’s will lick their wounds before tackling St Paul’s, Bessbrook later next week.
Today’s game in Clonmore could end the dreams of the Academy. Bad enough to lose their opening game by a wide margin – but a second defeat on the trot could really make things difficult for Paul Donaghy and his team-mates.
For their part, St Ronan’s will want to continue where they left off in an impressive second half against St Paul’s, Bessbrook, during which they came from 0-5 to 0-3 down to win 4-9 to 1-6.
Ace free-taker Aidan McConville broke his collarbone before half-time on Saturday and will probably miss the rest of the league. However, the Lurgan side has a good strong panel and will be expected to pick up another brace of league points.
The other two games (St Colman’s v Carrickmacross and Omagh CBS v St Patrick’s Cavan) will go ahead on Saturday, while Group C does not start until next weekend.
