Football

Rathmore and St Joseph's, Donaghmore to contest MacLarnon Cup final

Noah Grimes will hope to provide the inspiration for St Joseph's, Donaghmore in Saturday's second semi-final of the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup against St Louis', Ballymena
Noah Grimes will hope to provide the inspiration for St Joseph's, Donaghmore in Saturday's second semi-final of the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup against St Louis', Ballymena Noah Grimes will hope to provide the inspiration for St Joseph's, Donaghmore in Saturday's second semi-final of the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup against St Louis', Ballymena

Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup semi-finals

Rathmore, Belfast 1-10 Loreto, Milford 0-8

St Joseph's, Donaghmore 1-12 St Louis', Ballymena 0-4

THIS year's final of the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup will feature Rathmore, Belfast and St Joseph's, Donaghmore.

The Tyrone school progressed comfortably past St Louis', Ballymena in Saturday's second semi-final, 24 hours after Rathmore got past Loreto, Milford.

Sixteen years after their one and only appearance in the MacLarnon Cup final, Rathmore Grammar are back in the decider after taking out Loreto, Milford by five points in the semi-final in Owenbeg.

It didn’t start well for Rathmore, with Milford hitting the first three points inside the opening 10 minutes from JJ Sweeney, Finn Coll and Cian McMenamin.

The Donegal side had started without towering midfielder Oisin Scanlon, who cried off with a bug, and pulled the influential McMenamin back. That move initially worked, but their attack looked a little light without McMenamin who had top-scored with 2-3 in last week’s quarter-final.

As the half wore on Rathmore grew into the game and took a 0-6 to 0-4 lead by the break with five unanswered points. Captain Fintann O’Boyle and Ruairí McErlean each hit two, while Garret Cowan and Michael Morgan were also on target. O’Boyle, McErlean and Morgan continued to hurt Loreto up front, while Déaglán Mooney, the Lloyd brothers and Sé Ferris shored up the back.

A goal from Michael Morgan on 39 minutes opened a four-point gap and, with Milford losing a couple of players to injury, the Belfast side were never going to be caught.

SCORERS

Rathmore: M Morgan 1-2; R McErlean 0-4; F O’Boyle 0-2; G Cowan & C Blaney 0-1 each

Loreto: JJ Sweeney 0-3; F Coll & C McMenamin 0-2 each

Danske Bank Loch an Iúir Cup final

Dean Maguirc Carrickmore 1-15

Abbey VS, Donegal 3-6

A WELL-DRILLED Dean Maguirc side claimed the Loch an Iúir Cup at Garvaghey yesterday against a gallant Abbey Vocational side from Donegal.

In the end only three points separated the sides but that perhaps wasn’t a true reflection of the game, with Abbey midfielder Tomas Carr converting two penalties in injury-time when the game was all but over.

The Donegal lads were physically a stronger side but the winners harried and worked throughout and that went a long way towards determining the result.

The Dean kicked the first four points, Sean Donnelly and Vincent Gormley with a brace apiece. In the ninth minute, though, Abbey opened their account with a well-taken Daire Slevin goal and by the end of the opening quarter they were on level terms thanks to a Carr free.

The winners, though, responded well with further points from Gormley, Micheal McCallan and wing half-back Daniel Haigney before Tomas Lenehan had a brace for the Donegal lads.

In the 26th minute, Marcus Conway fielded the ball well before bursting through to fire to the corner of the net and while Abbey replied with points from Thomas McHugh and Gethin Mosby it was Dean Maguirc who led 1-8 to 1-5 at the break.

After a scoreless spell, the 41st to the 55th minute saw the Tyrone side enjoy a purple patch that yielded them six unanswered points to effectively win them the game.

Midfielder Lorcan Meenagh got a couple with Gormley, Donnelly, Brayden McNally and Pheilm McCrory all on target as well. It took the Abbey twenty seven minutes to open their second-half account via a Lenehan free which was cancelled out at the other end of the field by Gormley.

Carr’s penalties only added respectability to the final score for the Donegal side.

SCORERS

Dean Maguirc: V Gormley 0-6 (0-3f); S Donnelly; M Conway 1-0; L Meenagh 0-2; M McCallan, D Heagney, B McNally (f) & P McCrory 0-1 each

Abbey VS: T Carr 2-1 (2-0 pens, 1f); T Lenehan 0-3 (2f); D Slevin 1-0; T McHugh & G Mosby 0-1 each