Danske Bank MacRory Cup round two
Group D
Omagh CBS 0-21 St Ronan’s, Lurgan 1-10
FOR the second game running, holders Omagh CBS produced a fine second-half display to make it two wins from two at the expense of a battling St Ronan’s, Lurgan side in Augher yesterday afternoon.
It was point for point in a first half that saw the Lurgan side have their noses in front on six occasions.
Omagh, though, edged the first half 0-7 to 0-6 and when they hit five of the opening six scores in the second half they looked to be well on top.
A James Austin goal left it game on again but the winners sensed the danger to dominate the final quarter to secure a deserved victory.
Wing-back Jack Lavery had a brace of points with Austin and Maitiu McGibbon also on target as St Ronan’s gave as good as they got in the opening period.
Centre half-forward Ruairi McCullagh led by example for Omagh with 0-4, with Mattie Howe and defender Sean McCann also scoring.
McCullagh opened the second-half scoring before Omagh CBS midfielder Charlie Donnelly came into his own with a hat-trick of points in a five-minute spell.
Austin and McGibbon responded for the Lurgan boys either side of a Niall McCarney free, before Tom Lavery placed Austin for a well-taken 44th-minute goal.
That left the scoreboard reading 0-12 to 1-8 but from there until the final whistle there was only one team in it as Omagh put their foot on the gas.
Liam Óg Mossey, Donnelly, McCullagh and McCarney all split the posts and while Austin and substitute Conan Moore responded for St Ronan’s it was clear that the holders had the bit between their teeth.
In the last five minutes they closed the game out in style with McCullagh taking his personal haul to 0-8 either side of efforts from Howe and Conal Martin.
Omagh R McCullagh 0-8 (0-6f); C Donnelly 0-4; M Howe, L Mossey (1m) & N McCarney (1f) 0-2 each; E Donaghy, S McCann & C Martin 0-1 each
St Ronan’s J Austin 1-3 (0-2f); M McGibbon 0-3 (0-2f); J Lavery 0-2; J McCooey & C Moore 0-1 each
Group C
Our Lady’s, Castleblayney 4-6 Holy Trinity, Cookstown 1-14
OUR Lady’s picked up their second win in a dramatic game at Garvaghey that saw two of their players red-carded. Holy Trinity also had a played black-carded at a crucial stage of the game.
Cookstown looked the more comfortable team in the opening half and points from Ryan Nugent, Conor Devlin and Shea Lawn saw them lead by 0-3 to 0-2.
Then, right before half-time came the fireworks. Goals from Dara McMahon and Canice Murphy were offset by the dismissal of a ’Blayney midfielder with a straight red.
Nevertheless, Our Lady’s started the second half well and a goal from Max McGinnity moved them into a lead of eight points after 40 minutes.
Michael McElhatton got Holy Trinity going again with a fisted goal that was soon cancelled by Tadhg Hegarty.
A second red card for Castleblayney, this time the goalkeeper, and a few frees from McElhatton saw the gap between the teams close and with five minutes left it was down to a point.
’Blayney broke, however, and full-forward Senan Hegarty grabbed a vital point. At the other end, Eoin Long managed just one point in reply, meaning that the beaten finalists of the past two years must beat St Patrick’s, Cavan in their final group game to stay in the competition.
Our Lady’s M McGinnity 1-3; D McMahon 1-2; C Murphy 1-0 & T Hegarty 1-0 each; S Hanratty 0-1
Holy Trinity M McElhatton 1-5; L Lawn & S Lawn 0-2 each; E Long, C Mullan, J Concannon, R Nugent & C Devlin 0-1 each
St Patrick’s, Cavan 1-10 St Joseph’s, Donaghmore 1-9
St Patrick’s, Cavan got their first points of the campaign with this slender win in Clones yesterday.
The Tyrone lads led by two at the break and when Darragh Donaghy found the net they looked set for back-to-back wins in their debut season.
But, an opportunist goal from Conor Sharpe put the Cavan lads in front and they held on.
Donaghmore had led 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time and although Sharpe reduced the deficit Darragh Donaghy produced a clinical finish to extend that lead.
Cavan, chipped away at it, though, and Sharpe’s goal with 10 minutes today put them back in front.
Darragh Noonan and Joseph Corrigan swapped points before a Noah Grimes free reduced the deficit to the minimum but the Tyrone side ran out of time.
St Patrick’s C Sharpe 1-4; D Noonan 0-4 (0-2f); S Shiels & C McCrystal 0-1 each
St Joseph’s J Corrigan 0-3 (0-1f); D Donaghy 1-0; N Grimes (1f) & C O’Neill (2f) 0-2 each; D O’Neill & M Coyle 0-1 each
