Full-back rescues MacRory Point for Sem

October 26, 2015

Danske Bank MacRory Cup

St Macartan’s Monaghan 1-9 St Patrick’s Armagh 1-9

ST MACARTAN’s Monaghan needed an injury-time point from full-back James McKenna to rescue a draw against 14-man St Patrick’s Armagh in this entertaining Danske Bank MacRory Cup match at Pearse Óg pitch yesterday.

St Macartan’s seemed to be in a great position going into the last quarter with a 1-8 to 0-6 lead and Mattie McGleenan forced to pull his son, corner-forward Matthew óg, back into nets following the dismissal of Eoin Kearney on a straight red.

Initially the 14 men found it hard to get going and they failed to raise a flag until Conor Cullen pointed in the 53rd minute.

Soon after Jason Duffy added another point and then Gavin Conlon brought the teams level at 1-8 with a super strike.

All the momentum was with Armagh at that point, and it was no surprise when Tyrone McGeary pointed to edge them ahead. St Macartan’s then went on all-out attack in the last two minutes and got their reward with McKenna pointing right on the final whistle.

The first half had been evenly contested with free-takers Conor Leonard and Conor Cullen to the fore. Leonard hit four scores to Cullen’s five as the teams turned around at 0-5 each.

Early in the second half, Jason Duffy edged Armagh ahead, but Leonard responded by playing a through ball to James McCarey, who took on and beat two defenders before finishing to the Armagh net.

Daragh Hughes, Ciaran Burns and Padraig Finnan added points to open up that five point lead with Armagh struggling to cope with the loss of a player.

St Patrick’s managed to find their form however and were a little unlucky not to take both league points with that exciting finish.

St Macartan’s are back in action on Friday, while St Patrick’s don’t have a game until the end of next week.

St Patrick’s : Gavin Conlon 1-0, Conor Cullen 0-6, Jason Duffy 0-2, Tyrone McGeary 0-1.

St Macartan’s : James McCarey 1-0, Conor Leonard 0-4, Daragh Hughes 0-2, Ciaran Burns 0-1, Padraig Finnan 0-1, James McKenna 0-1.