Opening Day MacRory wins for St Colman’s & St Paul’s
Danske Bank MacRory Cup
St Colman’s, Newry 1-11 Abbey CBS Newry 1-7
St Paul’s Bessbrook 1-10 St Ronan’s Lurgan 0-7
St Colman’s Newry and St Paul’s Bessbrook are the teams smiling after the opening two fixtures in the Danske Bank MacRory Cup on Saturday.
In Páirc Esler the College boys from out the Armagh Road were the dominant team for most of the game, although they did concede a first half goal to Jason Sloane, a score that brought Abbey back into contention.
Ryan McGreevy and Rian O’Neill had made the first inroads into a packed Abbey defence, and St Colman’s continued to find ways through although Eoin McDonnell and Jack McCartan spurned gilt-edged goal chances before the break.
The teams turned over 1-1 to 0-5 at the break, but a quick goal and a point from Niall Scullion on the restart turned the game in St Colman’s favour.
Abbey came more out of their shell after that, playing some good attacking football with Ronan Fegan and Charlie Magill scoring some fine points.
However the Violet Hill team kept on top of the game with a couple of frees from Rian O’Neill and they finished strongly with scores from captain Charlie Carr and Matthew McCreesh.
Up in Lurgan the new St Ronan’s College fielded a fairly young team. Indeed four players from the side that reached the Danske Bank Rannafast quarter-finals midweek, were given starting numbers in this game and all four did well, despite having to battle back from the concession of a third minute goal.
Jarlath óg Burns made the run and Ryan McSherry rose to punch the ball home. St Paul’s didn’t build on that good start however and there were plenty of turnovers from both sides, before the break with Bessbrook leading 1-2 to an Aidan McConville point.
The second half was a freer, less tense affair and, helped by three points from Conor McConville, St Ronan’s closed the gap to 1-6 to 0-7 with ten minutes remaining.
St Paul’s full forward Shea Loye however fired over three points, bringing his total for the half to five and Bessbrook were safely heading home with the points in the bag.
St Paul’s have Omagh CBS next Saturday, St Ronan’s and Abbey CBS meet midweek, while holders Cavan are the next opponents for St Colman’s.
Action in the other section gets under way tomorrow (TUESDAY) with St Mary’s Magherafelt playing St Patrick’s Armagh.
St Colman’s : Niall Scullion 1-1, Rian O’Neill 0-6, 0-3 frees, Matthew McCreesh 0-2, Charlie Carr 0-1, Ryan McGreevy 0-1.
Abbey ; Jason Sloane 1-0, Ronan Fegan 0-3, Charlie Magill 0-3, Declan Murdock 0-1
St Paul’s : Ryan McSherry 1-0, Shea Loye 0-5, 0-2 frees, Liam Kerr 0-3, 0-1 free, Ryan Gaskin 0-2.
St Ronan’s : Conor McConville 0-3, 0-2 frees, Aidan McConville 0-2, Jack Haddock 0-1, Eunan Walsh 0-1
