Kilkeel retain McAvoy Cup in exciting finish
Danske Bank McAvoy Cup Final
St Louis, Kilkeel 6-5 Holy Cross, Strabane 4-8
This Danske Bank McAvoy Cup final in Clann Éireann Park Lurgan was decided only by a couple of incidents right at the death.
Holy Cross Strabane, having come back from a 4-2 to 1-3 deficit at the break, took the lead with points from the impressive Mel McGinley and Paul Farrell and time was running out on St Louis Kilkeel.
Attical’s Rian Cunningham on the left wing however slotted over a point to level the affair and in injury time took the ball past his marker to find Rory Quinn on the overlap and the Ballymartin defender fired it home from close range.
Holy Cross drove forward in response and Kilkeel breathed a sigh of relief when Niall McAleer’s effort rebounded off their crossbar to safety.
Strabane’s second half fight-back probably deserved at least a share of the spoils, but the Down school managed to hold out and retain the title because they were able to break for key scores while Holy Cross were on top.
In the first half however, Kilkeel were the dominant side although a goal from Paul Quinn was needed to cancel out a Gavan O’Kane early strike for Strabane.
Darragh McKay picked up a long ball in the 20th minute to fire home a second goal and Mason McCulla and midfielder Shea Madden added further green flags as Kilkeel opened up an eight points interval gap.
On the resumption Oisin Dooher and Niall McAleer immediately closed the gap with goals, but Strabane’s revival was set back by a second Paul Quinn goal and some excellent goal-keeping by Cormac Garvey.
Eventually a 53rd minute goal from Mel McGinley tied the game and set up that exciting finish.
St Louis : Paul Quinn 2-0, Mason McCulla 1-2, Rory Quinn 1-1, Shea Madden 1-0, Darragh McKay 1-0, Rian Cunningham 0-2.
Holy Cross : Mel McGinley 1-5, Oisin Dooher 1-1, Niall McAleer 1-0, Gavan O’Kane 1-0, Sean Maxwell 0-1, Paul Farrell 0-1.
