Football

Oisin McGrath Cup glory for Dungannon; Bessbrook take Treanor honours

The St Patrick's, Dungannon side celebrate their Oisin McGrath Cup final win
The St Patrick's, Dungannon side celebrate their Oisin McGrath Cup final win The St Patrick's, Dungannon side celebrate their Oisin McGrath Cup final win

Danske Bank Oisin McGrath Cup final

St Patrick's, Dungannon 0-13 Our Lady’s, Castleblayney 2-5

TYRONE'S success at schools' level continued in Garvaghey on Friday when pre-match favourites St Patrick's, Dungannon held off a spirited comeback from Our Lady’s, Castleblayney to win the Oisin McGrath Cup.

The Academy looked well on their way to victory going into the final quarter when they held a 0-9 to 0-3 advantage, but credit has to go to the Monaghan lads who were chasing a first-ever grade A title as they pushed their opponents right to the wire.

In difficult weather conditions the accuracy of Academy full forward Liam McGeary proved crucial as he kicked 0-8, five from frees, while Joel Kerr weighed in with a couple of brilliant scores at crucial times as well. 

McGeary and Lorcan Mone traded early points before a brace from the former left it 0-3 to 0-1 at the end of the opening quarter.

Senan Hanratty narrowed the gap to the minimum but it took a superb save from Castleblayney keeper Cathal Malone to prevent Aaron Convie from getting in for a goal.

McGeary and Kerr both knocked over frees for a 0-5 to 0-2 interval lead for an Academy team who had full-back Dare O’Hagan to thank for a timely interception at the end of the half.

It took seven minutes for the opening score of the second half to arrive but it was well worth the wait, an outstanding effort from Kerr, and he followed that up 60 seconds later with another superb effort from out on the left.

Tristan Nugent responded for Our Lady’s with a quality score of his own, but a McGeary free coupled with a good score from play from Lorcan McMurray had Dungannon in control, keeper Malone making another fine save to thwart Convie again. 

In the 48th minute, Castleblayney were thrown a lifeline when Mone grabbed a goal and when that was quickly followed by a brilliant point from distance from centre half-back Pauric Carville the gap was down to two. 

Dungannon, though, didn’t panic and McGeary weighed in with another brace to edge them clear again.

Castleblayney, though, weren’t going away and a Dylan Watters goal set up a tense finish, but Dungannon held out with wing half-back Darragh Devlin hitting a fine score.

Scorers

Dungannon L McGeary 0-8 (5f); J Kerr 0-3 (1f); D Devlin & L McMurray 0-1 each

Castleblayney L Mone 1-1; D Watters 1-0; P Carville, T Nugent, S Hanratty (f) & H McQuillan 0-1 each

Danske Bank Treanor Cup final

St Paul’s Bessbrook 6-14 St Patrick’s Downpatrick 3-7

THREE goals and six points from St Paul’s, Bessbrook captain Shea Loughran clinched an excellent Rannafast-Treanor double for the school at the Dub on Friday.

Loughran’s hat-trick of goals came in the opening half, the first after just five minutes. The Red High pulled the gap back to 1-3 to 0-3 by the end of the first quarter before Loughran struck for his second goal.

Downpatrick hit back with a goal from Calum Cope in the 18th minute, but Bessbrook had opened a gap of 2-6 to 1-3 by the time Loughran hit the net once more four minutes from the break.

He fired over three points early in the second half and goals from Paul Stanfield and Shea McPartland inside 60 seconds midway through the half saw St Paul’s pull away.

Downpatrick full-forward Calum Cope completed his own hat-trick during the last quarter, but by then they were no more than consolation scores and Bessbrook sub Odhrán Carnegie finished the scoring with an injury-time sixth goal for the winners.

Earlier in the day, Bessbrook lost the Danske Bank Brock Cup final to a slick performance from Our Lady & St Patrick’s, Knock – who came out on the right side of a 5-6 to 3-4 scoreline 

St Paul’s S Loughran (3-6, 0-4 frees), P Stanfield and S McPartland (1-1 each), O Carnegie (1-0), R Martin (0-4, 2 frees), J O’Neill and C Murphy (0-1 each)

St Patrick’s C Cope (3-1), K Kearney (0-4, 3 frees), J Flanagan and P Sharvin (0-1 each)