Danske Bank MacRory Cup final: St Mary’s, Magherafelt 1-7 St Ronan’s, Lurgan 1-9
IT was always physical and often scrappy but St Ronan’s kept their eyes on the prize and grabbed their first ever MacRory Cup yesterday.
With a narrow victory that had their legions of fans celebrating merrily on the pitch afterwards, the Lurgan school followed the example set by their county Derry opponents last year by adding their name to the famous MacRory Cup thanks to a determined second half rally that denied St Mary’s back-to-back triumphs.
St Ronan’s (a recent amalgamation of the St Michael’s, St Paul’s and St Mary’s schools) enjoyed a dream start to their first final. Only 40 seconds were on the clock when Eoin McConville was taken down as he shot for goal and referee Paul Faloon signaled ‘penalty’.
Oisin Smyth calmly beat St Mary’s goalkeeper Odhran Lynch and the same player followed his goal with a point. That four-point start proved vital at the finish and afterwards manager David Wilson reflected on an unforgettable day for the ambitious school.
“It’s fantastic for the school,” said the former Armagh forward.
“It’s a young school and what we’ve tried to make sure is that these boys set the bar high for the students who are coming after them. They’ve demonstrated to them that hopefully they can go and do the same further down the line.
“We had a great start and we had identified that because Magherafelt had started really well in all their games and we identified that as what we wanted to do and we’re delighted we got it. I suppose we didn’t push on after our start but thankfully we got going again in the second half.”
Meanwhile, disappointed St Mary’s mentor Ronan Devlin felt his players had failed to produce their best on the day.
“It’s a tough one to take,” he said.
“It could have went either way. At half-time they probably thought they had kicked themselves out of it, in the second half I think we kicked ourselves out of it.
“It was an error-ridden game from both sides and we’re just disappointed. I think we have more in us.”
Devlin’s men took time to settle and eight minutes had elapsed before Creggan clubman Liam Quinn showed smartly to win the ball, turn and split the posts to open the St Mary’s account. The poor shooting of the St Ronan’s forwards undermined their efforts and 10 disjointed minutes went by before Conall Devlin’s wind assisted effort went in off post to leave it 1-1 to 0-2.
Then St Mary’s won a penalty. A marauding run from Devlin caused havoc in the St Ronan’s defence. The Ardboe clubman was taken down by Jack Haddock and Daniel Bradley held his nerve to give his school the lead.
A point from Adam Connolly followed before St Ronan’s got back on terms thanks to two points from McConville. In the dying seconds of the half, Ruairi Keenan’s athletic catch and accurate pass sent Tiarnan McAteer away on a scything run through the St Ronan’s defence.
His score left the defending champions 1-4 to 1-3 ahead and, although they struggled to find fluency, it looked like there could be better to come from the Derry school in the second half.
But once again St Ronan’s started well. Rioghan Meehan – outstanding in the second half – set the tone with a pacey break up the right and a precise finish.
Then McConville’s free edged St Ronan’s back into the lead before Jamie McCann equalized for St Mary’s.
A full-stretch save from St Mary’s goalkeeper Odhran Lynch denied Meehan a goal but he would not be denied and his two points kept St Ronan’s noses in front. At the other end, St Mary’s couldn’t get the ball up to their inside forwards and their shooting from distance was poor.
Marc McAfee, just on, smashed over a curling effort off the outside of his boot and though Devlin narrowed the gap to a point, another McConville free and some backs-to-the-wall defending saw St Ronan’s over the line.
St Ronan’s, Lurgan: L Mulholland; E McCluskey, A Mulholland, J Haddock; A McCreanor, J Lamont, J Haughey; J Lenehan, T Kelly; O Smyth (1-1, 1-0 penalty), A Loughran, R Meehan (0-3); R McConville, L Monteioro, E McConville (0-4, 0-3 frees)
Subs: J Megoran for R McConville (39), M McAfee (0-1) for Monteioro (51)
St Mary’s, Magherafelt: O Lynch; C Doyle, G Lupari, L og McElhone; J Crawford, S McErlain, C Devlin (0-2); T Donaghy, J McCann (0-1); A Connolly (0-1), T McAteer (0-1), R Keenan; L Quinn (0-1), C Murphy, D Bradley (1-1, 1-0 penalty)
Subs: A McCluskey for Keenan (49), D McAteer for McCann (53), C O’Neill for Bradley (56)
Referee: P Faloon (Down)
Attendance: 5,660
Star Players
Conall Devlin (St Mary’s, Magherafelt)
CONCEDED an early penalty but then joined the attack to win one himself. The Ardboe clubman also scored points from play in both halves and his long-busting runs down the right flank were a feature of the final.
Rioghan Meehan (St Ronan’s, Lurgan)
PLAYED an early assist for a point but came into his own decisively in the second half. His early score set the tone for the Lurgan school and he was a composed presence on the ball from there to the final whistle. Finished the game with three points to his credit and the Man of the Match award.
