Danske Bank MacRory Cup Group B
Holy Trinity, Cookstown 1-10 St Patrick’s, Cavan 0-7
IT WAS a wise choice from Holy Trinity, Cookstown to play with the aid of a very strong breeze in Armagh yesterday, because their seven-point interval lead was a key factor in the east Tyrone school opening their first ever Danske Bank MacRory Cup campaign with a victory over St Patrick’s, Cavan.
They were six points up after just 13 minutes, with two each from Tiarnan Quinn and Mark Devlin and had added another before Darryl McGurn eventually opened St Patrick’s, Cavan’s account from a free in the 25th minute.
Nathan Connolly added another Cookstown point before the break and they led by 0-8 to 0-1 at the turnover.
The mountain got a lot steeper for Cavan after just two minutes of the second half with Shane Murphy fielding a kick-out and off-loading to Mark Devlin, who placed Tiarnan Quinn for the only goal of the game.
Cavan quickly responded with points each for Oisin Brady, Jack Treanor and Eoin Clarke, and they hit several wides as well.
However, Holy Trinity gradually became more composed with Tarlach Quinn, the Mulgrew brothers, Eoin Gallagher, Thomas Mackle and goalscorer Tiarnan Quinn all impressing.
Cavan had good performances from Paul McCabe and Cian Boylan in defence and Darryl McGurn and Jack Treanor in attack, but the interval deficit followed by the early second half goal gave them an impossible target and they will now look to games with St Macartan’s and Maghera to re-ignite their campaign.
Danske Bank MacRory Cup Group D
Patrician, Carrickmacross v St Paul’s, Bessbrook (Wednesday, Crossmaglen, 2pm)
BOTH these sides had bad starts to their campaigns, losing to St Eunan’s, Letterkenny and St Patrick’s, Armagh respectively in the opening round of games before the Halloween break.
Patrician got the perfect start in their game, goals from Ryan Kennedy and Ryan McNulty in the first quarter, but then lost their way with the concession of two penalties ultimately leading to the loss of points in a fairly evenly contested game.
However, given that the Monaghan minor final had only been completed a couple of days earlier and the school team had no collective training, there is evidence that they can certainly build on that performance and a victory in Crossmaglen today would be the perfect boost for them.
Shane Hanratty, Liam óg Murray and Jack McGeown all did well in defeat, but there is plenty of talent in the squad to back them up.
Bessbrook’s defeat to their Armagh neighbours was much more comprehensive and it will be difficult enough to get them lifted after scoring just 1-3 and conceding 3-11.
However, the three goals conceded all came within a five-minute spell shortly after half-time and prior to those scores there were just two points between the sides, with Padraig Wilson, Jack Cunningham and Lee Rice competing well.
After their poor start, a win today is a priority for both teams and that should lead to a keenly contested game. However, the Farney side look the more capable of resurrecting their season.
