Danske Bank MacRory Cup quarter-final
St Patrick’s, Dungannon 2-14
St Macartan’s, Monaghan 0-11
St Patricks, Dungannon became the third Tyrone school to book their place in the last four of the Danske Bank MacRory Cup when they produced an impressive display to see off the challenge of St Macartans, Monaghan at Monaghan Harps yesterday afternoon writes Kevin Kelly.
It was a contest that they always looked to have the upper hand in with Ronan Cassidy outstanding up front finishing with a personal haul of 2-7 to his name.
After the sides had shared the opening four points Cassidy’s first score in the eighth minute gave them a lead that they were never to lose.
Matthew Quinn and Finn Spence added points for the winners and while Luke McManus and Tommy Mallen responded for St Macartan’s a penalty from Cassidy in the 27th minute left Dungannon well on top.
St Macartan’s responded with a fine McManus score and in first-half injury-time he had a chance to reduce the deficit further from the penalty spot but he blazed over the bar to leave it 1-8 to 0-7 at the break.
Cassidy and Spence added points on the restart but before those two scores they had keeper Conan McGarvey and full-back Michael Carty to thank for two fine stops to prevent goals.
In the 40th minute it was effectively game over when Theo Lowe and Spence combined for Cassidy to blast to the net. Cassidy and Mallen had a brace each for their respective sides but Dungannon always looked the better side with Fiacra Nelis and defender Darragh McGrath both getting their names on the scoresheet late on.
Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup quarter-final
Rathmore, Belfast 0-8
Aquinas, Belfast 0-6
WHILE this was a fast-paced, end-to-end tie in Colaiste Feirste, scores were a rarity and it took 15 minutes before Rathmore’s Donncha McGurk clipped over the opener writes Séamas McAleenan.
Minutes earlier his goalie Kayo Dobrowiski had pulled off a brilliant stop to deny Aquinas.
The second quarter was a little more open and Rathmore were able to build an interval lead of 0-5 to 0-2, with Rory McErlain accurate from frees and Garret Cowan winning a turnover before scoring the point of the half from an acute angle in the right corner.
Daniel Carlin and Niall Duffy had been Aquinas’s only scorers in the first half, but during the third quarter the Ravenhill Road men pulled the game back level at 0-6 each with points from Carlin, Manus McCrossan, Ben Christie and Brendan Delaney.
At that stage it seemed that Aquinas had the momentum to go on and win the tie. However, two brilliant individual points from Rathmore captain Fintan O’Boyle edged Rathmore through to a shock victory. His second score came from winning a ball on his own 20-metre line and running the length of the field to fire over with his left foot.
Rathmore are through to a semi-final meeting with Loreto, Milford on Wednesday evening.
The remaining two quarter-finals will take place today. At the Dub (1pm), St Louis, Ballymena will face St Paul’s, Bessbrook while in the Mid Ulster Sports Arena in Cookstown (3pm), St Joseph’s, Donaghmore will play St Mary’s CBGS, Belfast.
