Maghera take 15th title with early goal blast
St Patrick’s Maghera 5-7 St Paul’s Bessbrook 1-9
From Kevin Kelly in the Athletic Grounds
St Patrick’s Maghera are Danske Bank MacRory Cup champions for the 15th time in their illustrious history when they had too much power and knowhow for St Paul’s Bessbrook in yesterday’s decider at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh.
A blistering start when they found the net three times in the opening twelve minutes paved the way for their victory but credit has to go to a St Paul’s side who made a fight of it after trailing 4-4 to 0-5 at the interval.
Indeed Maghera keeper Sean Ó Caiside made a brilliant save to deny Ryan McSherry a goal in the 50th minute at a time when the gap had been cut to six points. That was a big moment in the game and Maghera steadied the ship after that with an injury time penalty from Conall Darragh putting gloss on their victory.
The Derry lads haven’t time to rest on their laurels as they face Connaught champions Summerhill from Sligo in the Hogan Cup semi-final next Wednesday but for now joint manager Paul Hughes was revelling in their latest success.
“You never get tired of winning the MacRory Cup, especially in perfect conditions like today,” said Paul.
“I have said for years that MacRory football is a special competition simply because of the bond that there is among the players and the whole school.
We had asked the lads to start with intensity but we couldn’t have dreamed of the beginning that we got. If you tracked our games through the knockout stages we were poor starters and that was something that we had to address.
In a couple of challenge games we developed a great intensity. We told the lads that today wasn’t about the fact that we were playing Bessbrook it was all about what they could bring to the game.
In the first quarter we did everything that was asked of us and while after that there were things that we weren’t happy about we got the win and that was the most important thing.”
Maghera had their opening score after only twenty seconds through Francis Kearney and when the same layer did the spadework for full forward Shane McGuigan to fire home a 3rd minute goal Bessbrook already had a mountain to climb.
In the eighth minute the winners pounced for their second goal of the afternoon when he was in the right place at the right time to score from close range after a shot from Kearney had been blocked on the line.
St Paul’s finally opened their account in the 9th minute through Niall Magennis and team captain Jarlath óg Burns followed that up with another well taken score sixty seconds later.
Instead of settling Bessbrook it stung Maghera into action with Kearney finishing low to the bottom left hand corner of the net past keeper Michael Murphy. Damian O’Hagan countered with a Bessbrook point but in the 19th minute the Kearney twins Patrick and Francis combined for Paddy Quigg to find the roof of the net.
Bessbrook had nothing to lose in the second half as they threw of the shackles and threatened to make a game of it. Liam Kerr and Shea Loye had early points before a blistering run from Conor Magennis saw him offload for Loye to find the roof of the net in the 46th minute.
Points from Oisin McWilliams and McGuigan helped steady the ship for the winners but Bessbrook weren’t going away with Loye and Kerr both finding the target again.
It was at that stage that keeper Ó Caiside pulled off that superb save and Maghera lifted their game with man of the match Patrick Kearney really coming to the fore winning a number of crucial kick outs.
The superb McGuigan took his personal haul to 2-4, all from play, as the winners closed out the game on a high. Three minutes into injury time they completed the scoring when Conall Darragh expertly tucked a penalty into the bottom left hand corner of the net after he had been fouled himself.
Conor Glass brought the curtain down on his Ulster Colleges’ career when lifting the MacRory Cup for what is his third winners’ medal and no doubt he will be aiming to reach a third Hogan final as well.
St Patrick’s Maghera: S Cassidy; O McKeever, P Turner, K Feeney; P McCormack, S Downey, C McAllister; C Glass, J Doherty; P Kearney, P Quigg (1-0), O McWilliams (0-2); C Darragh (1-0, pen), S McGuigan (2-4), F Kearney (1-1).
Subs: T Walsh for McKeever, D McPeake for Quigg, M Mullan for McWilliams, C Mulholland for McAllister, F Higgins for P Kearney
St Paul’s Bessbrook: M Murphy; C Magennis, D Loye, C McDonnell; E McCabe, R Gaskin, C Clarke; J Og Burns (0-1), D O’Hagan (0-1); R Keenan, N Magennis (0-1), A Boyle; L Kerr (0-3, 2f), S Loye (1-3, 1f), R McSherry.
Subs: S Finnegan for Keenan, J Durnin for O’Hagan, R Hughes for N Magennis
Referee: M McNally, Monaghan
