SECTION A and C remain to be sorted in the Danske Bank MacRory Cup with the cut-off date extended to next Wednesday due to the conditions of pitches during this cold snap.
The last game played in Section C didn’t exactly go to script.
St Mary’s, Magherafelt got out of the blocks fairly quickly against Holy Trinity, Cookstown and went five points up.
The Convent still led by four at the break, but HTC won the second half by 2-8 to 1-2 with goals from Liam Lawn and Ryan Quinn.
Holy Trinity started their opening game slowly as well and paid the price against the Academy. They now face an Armagh side that played well in patches against both the Academy and Magherafelt, but also conceded scores rather easily.
Armagh face the exit unless they win by eight points against Cookstown. I cannot see that happening. Rather Holy Trinity should win and if the margin of victory is more than three points they will finish in second place regardless of what happens in the other group game on Sunday.
It was a surprise to see the Convent overran in the last quarter of their game with Cookstown. Indeed one of the few positives of that game for them was the performance of young James Sargent who scored 1-3 for them. James and his Rannafast Cup colleagues have since exited that competition at the semi-final stage and you would expect the young lad to cement his place in the MacRory starting team on Sunday.
The Academy have done nothing wrong in their two games and will come into this tie knowing that they only need a draw to top the group and avoid a play-off on the first weekend of January.
You always felt that the group would be decided by this game. A hesitant vote for the Academy.
It looks as if Omagh CBS have only to take the field to top Section A. With a score difference of plus 30 points, they would need to lose heavily to Cavan for either Cavan or Enniskillen to top the group.
If the Enniskillen v St Eunan’s game goes ahead today in Castlederg, it looks pretty straightforward to call. St Eunan’s lost by 4-13 to 0-3 last day out, while St Michael’s won by 2-11 to 0-6.
There may be a big effort from St Eunan’s to save some face, but they don’t look like a team that can win this game.
Omagh have a more difficult game against Cavan, but given their respective results, you would expect the Tyrone side to pick up another win.
So it looks like three wins for the Tyrone schools with Enniskillen the other winner.
Fixtures
Danske Bank MacRory Cup Round 3
Wednesday, December 14
St Eunan's, Letterkenny v St Michael's, Enniskillen (12.30pm, Castlederg)
Friday, December 16
St Patrick’s, Armagh v Holy Trinity, Cookstown (1.30pm, Clonmore)
Sunday
St Mary’s, Magherafelt v St Patrick’s Academy (1.30pm, Desertmartin)
Monday, December 19
St Patrick’s Cavan v Omagh CBS (12pm, Augher - TBC)
Tables:
SECTION A
P W D L F A SD Pts
Omagh CBS 2 2 0 0 40 10 +30 4
St Michael’s 2 1 0 1 24 21 +3 2
St Patrick’s Cavan 2 1 0 1 26 28 -2 2
St Eunan’s Letterkenny 2 0 0 2 14 45 -31 0
Results: St Eunan’s Letterkenny 1-8 St Patrick’s Cavan 2-14; Omagh CBS 0-15 St Michael’s Enniskillen 0-7; St Eunan’s Letterkenny 0-3 Omagh CBS 4-13; St Michael’s Enniskillen 2-11 St Patrick’s Cavan 0-6
SECTION B
P W D L F A SD Pts
St Macartan’s 3 2 1 0 44 41 +3 5
Abbey CBS Newry 3 1 2 0 36 35 +1 4
Patrician 3 1 0 2 35 28 +7 2
St Ronan’s Lurgan 3 0 1 2 38 49 -11 1
Results: Patrician Carrickmacross 3-9 St Ronan’s Lurgan 0-9; St Macartan’s Monaghan 2-9 Abbey CBS Newry 1-12; Patrician Carrickmacross 0-10 St Macartan’s Monaghan 1-8; Abbey CBS Newry 1-10 St Ronan’s Lurgan 2-7; St Macartan’s Monaghan 2-12 St Ronan’s Lurgan 2-10; Abbey CBS Newry 0-8 Patrician Carrickmacross 1-4
SECTION C
P W D L F A SD Pts
St Patrick’s Academy 2 2 0 0 36 29 +7 4
St Mary’s Magherafelt 2 1 0 1 35 32 +3 2
Holy Trinity 2 1 0 1 30 28 +2 2
St Patrick’s Armagh 2 0 0 2 31 43 -12 0
St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon 2-10 Holy Trinity Cookstown 2-7; St Mary’s Magherafelt 4-11 St Patrick’s Armagh 1-12; St Patrick’s Armagh 2-10 St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon 2-14
Holy Trinity Cookstown 2-11 St Mary’s Magherafelt 1-9
