St Mary’s Magherafelt edge Aquinas in MacRory Cup thriller
Magherafelt looked to be cruising at 1-13 to 2-1 before three Aquinas goals and a flurry of late two-pointers cut the gap to three in added time.
St Mary’s Magherafelt 1-18 ... Aquinas Grammar 3-9
Had St Mary’s Magherafelt ended up with anything less than a win from this Danske Bank MacRory Cup Group B tie in Newbridge on Wednesday afternoon, it would have been a travesty. They had dominated for long periods and led by 1-13 to 2-1 ten minutes into the second half despite wasting several other scoring chances.
However a couple of late two pointers from Aquinas Grammar’s midfielder Conn Huston opened the door for a share of the spoils – but they just didn’t have enough time left to put Oisín McGeehan’s goal under enough pressure.
Two first half goals kept Aquinas in the fight but they were generally forced into lateral passes across the 45 metres line for about 45 minutes.
St Mary’s got a super charged start with Conor O’Kane slipping as he went for a two-pointer and the ball went straight to Cormac McGuckin for a goal in the opening minute. Tomás Devlin and Máirtín óg Bradley quickly added points before Aquinas settled defensively.
Magherafelt were still coasting until a high ball into their goal area in the 12th minute was punched to the net by Rory McConnell.
The Derry school responded with three unanswered points – one from each of the three players in the full-forward line. Then a free off the ground landed in the Magherafelt goal area and fell kindly for Rory Magee to kick home in the 16th minute.
But general play was still dominated by St Mary’s although Johnny Higgins hit a rare point for Aquinas in response to one from Tony O’Hagan. The half finished with Máirtín óg Bradley slaloming his way through from the back to shoot a two-pointer, leaving Magherafelt with a lead of 1-8 to 2-1.
They probably deserved to be further ahead and made amends on the re-start with a point from Lorcán Small, followed by three from Tony O’Hagan frees including a two pointer, and then a tap-over free from Tomás Devlin. A lead of nine points at that stage was a fairer reflection of the play.
However Aquinas got a break when Conal Vaugh was played in for a straight run through the centre to fire home a third goal for Aquinas. It was now 1-13 to 3-1 and the city side began to find traction with points from Johnny Higgins, Conn Huston (two frees) and sub Aidan Holmes.
Lorcán Higgins and Tomás Devlin, with two points each, kept check on their progress until Huston landed a couple of late two pointers to reduce the gap to just three points going into added time.
St Mary’s though managed to hold out and join Aquinas on one win from two outings. With the other group B game between Abbey Vocational and St Paul’s Bessbrook postponed until December 1, it looks likely that Round 3 games will go ahead before that. Magherafelt have to play Bessbrook while Aquinas face the Donegal town school.
St Mary’s: O McGeehan, D Donnan, J Ferguson, H Curley, M óg Bradley 0-3, 1tp, C Sargent, J Dallat, C O’Kane, J Walls, C McGuckin 1-0, T Devlin 0-5, 1f, R Quinn 0-1, L Small 0-2, T O’Hagan 0-4, 1tpf, 2fs, L Higgins 0-3.
Subs: M McLarnon for R Quinn (46), C Cassidy for J Ferguson (49), K Quigg for M óg Bradley (55)
Aquinas: C McGarry, T Hill, C Dunnion, O O’Connor, S McMahon, C Frazer, R McConville, S Bell, C Huston 0-6, 1tpf, 2fs, O McCrory, C Vaugh 1-0, J Higgins 0-2, F McArdle, R McConnell 1-0, R Magee 1-0.
Subs: F Heaney for R McConville (ht), A Holmes 0-1 for O McCrory (35), L O’Rourke for R Magee (51)
Referee: Colin Thompson