St. Killian’s take first ever Mallon Cup
Danske Bank Mallon Cup final
St Killian’s Garron Tower 2-10 St Benedict’s Randalstown 2-7
Two goals in the opening five minutes of play in this Danske Bank Mallon Cup football final in Dunloy yesterday sent St Killian’s Garron Tower on their way to a first ever provincial title at this level. St Benedict’s conceded a penalty in the second minute and, although Conor McLarnon did well to block Gabriel Leech’s spot-kick, Liam McLoughlin followed up to fire the ball to the roof of the net.
The second goal, two minutes later, was a result of a good team move for the Tower boys with Seanie McIntosh on hand to finish. From that point, St Benedict’s were facing an uphill task, but they were helped by their opponents who wasted a number of openings in the first half, shooting a dozen wides. Michael O’Boyle however lofted over two excellent points and St Killian’s led 2-5 to 0-2 at the turnover.
The second half was more evenly contested, although St Killian’s never looked in any real danger of losing the game. They controlled Randalstown’s main danger Sean McAllister and players such as Aidan Scullion, Gabriel Leech, Ciaran Magill and Michael O’Boyle were always a threat going forward. Odhran Molloy lifted St Benedict’s with a goal ten minutes from time, but their second three-pointer, a penalty goal in injury-time from McAllister, came too late to really trouble the winners.
St Killian’s : Euan McSparran, Joe Martin, Cathal Hynds, Mark Emerson, Callum Kilgore, Shea McDonnell, Fintan McQuillan 0-1, Gabriel Leech 0-5, Ciaran Magill 0-2, Shane McKenna, Aidan Scullion, Sean O’Boyle 0-1, Michael O’Boyle, Liam McLoughlin 1-0, Seanie McIntosh 1-1
Subs : Niall McGarell for J Martin, Caolan Lennon for L McLoughlin, Shea McNaughton for S O’Boyle, James McAlister for S McKenna
St Benedict’s : Conor McLarnon, Ryan Martin, Odhran Molloy 1-0, Kelvin McCormick, Leeroy Muasha, Casper Logan, Aidan McErlean, Conor O’Kane, Ruairi McVeigh, Cahair Donnelly, Sean McAlllister 1-4, Caolan O’Loan 0-2, Seamus Letters, Tiernan Murray 0-1, Conor Hastings.
Subs : Tadhg McKinney for C Hastins, Shane Hinphey for S Letters, Josh Madden for C Donnelly Referee : Vincent Boyle (Dunloy)
NB Most of this squad are also MacNamee Cup hurling medallists from last October
