Maghera come from Six Down to beat Omagh
St Patrick’s Maghera 2-8 Omagh CBS 1-9
from Kevin Kelly in Emyvale
St Patrick’s Maghera became the first side to qualify for the semi-finals of this years Danske Bank MacRory Cup when they had two points to spare over Omagh CBS at Emyvale last night.
It was a keenly contested encounter with both sides playing some good football despite the tricky weather conditions. With twenty three minutes gone on the clock Omagh CBS appeared to be well in control as they held a 1-5 to 0-2 lead but Maghera showed what they are made of to fight back to get back on level terms by the break.
Omagh began well with points from Johnny Harkin, James Darcy and wing back Tiarnan Murray and it took Maghera sixteen minutes to open their account via a Shane McGuigan free. McGuigan and Oisin Donnelly exchanged points before Darcy knocked over a free.
In the 23rd minute Omagh struck for a well worked goal when a storming run from midfielder Eoighan Keenan saw him offload the ball to Oran Sludden who fired to the bottom left hand corner of the net despite keeper Sean Cassidy getting a hand to it.
Team captain Conor Glass began the fightback with a superb point before McGuigan’s rising shot just cleared the bar. Glass and Keelan Feeney had points either side of a Conal Darragh goal to leave it 1-6 apiece at halftime.
Francis Kearney then put Maghera in front for the first time on the restart for a lead that they were never to lose. Glass tagged on a point before Patrick Quigg blasted in a 39th minute goal to put them five clear.
That proved to be their last score however as Omagh exerted late pressure. Eoighan Keenan, Darcy and Peter McCartan had points for the Tyrone lads but Darcy missed a couple of frees late on.
