Football

MacRory Cup: Conall Devlin injury lets Colman’s back in

Danske Bank MacRory Cup: St Colman’s, Newry 3-5 St Mary’s, Magherafelt 2-8

With 10 minutes left on the clock in Saturday’s Danske Bank MacRory Cup tie in Garvaghey, St Mary’s looked to be a safe bet for the two league points, leading by double scores at 2-8 to 1-4.

However, an injury to Conall Devlin proved a turning point and a huge setback as the midfielder had been on the ball a lot, sweeping in front of the St Mary’s defence.

St Colman’s pushed forward and, although it took an injury-time penalty from Rian O’Neill to tie the scores at 2-8 to 3-5, the Newry outfit created enough chances that they could possibly have won the game.

That was in contrast to the control the Convent exercised up until the 50th minute, after Declan Cassidy had buried a goal to open their account.

Close to the break, Liam Quinn added a second St Mary’s goal to give them a 2-3 to 0-4 interval lead, to which Daniel Bradley added a pointed free on the re-start.

St Colman’s broke for a 39th minute goal from Oisin O’Neill, but the Convent added four points in-a-row from Quinn, Cassidy, Tiarnan McAteer and another Bradley free to seemingly take control.

Then came that late spell of dominance for St Colman’s sparked by a goal from Cian McConville in the 55th minute with Eoghan McDonnell quickly adding a point.

O’Neill coolly slotted home his penalty to rescue a point ahead of his team’s final league game with St Patrick’s, Cavan next week.

St Mary’s, Magherafelt could still top the group if they defeat Omagh CBS in their final game next Friday.

The next action in the competition is in Kingscourt this afternoon (1.30pm) when St Patrick’s, Cavan play Patrician High, Carrickmacross.