Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup semi-finals
Patrician, Carrickmacross v Aquinas Grammar, Belfast
(Sunday, Mayobridge, 2pm)
PATRICIAN were strongly favoured to reach the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup semi-finals, but two goals in the last quarter against last year’s beaten finalists Our Lady & St Patrick’s Knock has put Aquinas Grammar through as surprise opponents.
The Ravenhill Road side looked in bother when they trailed by 0-8 to 0-5 midway through the second half in Woodlands last Tuesday.
Then Joe Mulgrew goaled in the 44th minute to tie the game, but Knock responded with a point. Those scores happened when influential midfielder Padraig O’Hare was on the sideline after picking up a black card.
When he returned to action he landed his third point before Oisín O’Hare sent Jacko Watson through for the second goal and Aquinas held on to secure victory.
Both O’Hares are leaders in the team, while Dáire Oglsby and Watson also turned in strong performance to see them through a low-scoring derby. JJ Higgins, Jude Dixon and Eoin Brown are other players who have featured on underage county teams.
Aquinas were beaten by Patrician in Group C of the qualifiers on a terrible day weather-wise, but there is little doubt that notes would have been taken by both management teams.
The Carrickmacross school lost out on penalties in last year’s MacRory Cup, but still have a few of that squad available for this team after stepping down a level, while defenders Dermot Farrelly and Conor Mulligan both featured well for the Monaghan minors in 2024.
Their 2-14 to 2-6 win over St Malachy’s, Castlewellan wasn’t as emphatic as the scoreline suggests. They broke the Down school’s defensive barrier with a goal from Joe O’Farrell in the 50th minute and added five unanswered points as Castlewellan pushed forward in search of scores.
Nevertheless, they always looked the more likely winners with Conor Meehan and Cian Rafferty a huge threat breaking from deep in the defence.
With Aquinas setting up very well defensively against Knock and knowing how well Castlewellan also coped with a defensive line, I would expect this to be a low-scoring encounter with the Belfast side’s best chance of a shock result to come from the template they used in Woodlands.
However, Patrician started this competition as favourites and there is no reason as yet to suggest that they won’t be in the final on the first weekend of February.
Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore v St Pius', X Magherafelt
(Monday, Owenbeg, 7.30pm)
ST Pius' X, Magherafelt’s chances of reaching the MacLarnon final could depend on the availability of Derry minors Oisín Doherty and Dylan Rocks.
The further a team goes in a competition, the more they need their star players, and Rocks and Doherty fit that profile.
St Pius' X struggled with the challenge from Rathmore in last week’s quarter-final. Rocks didn’t feature at all in that game and Doherty came on as a sub when time was running out and the team were two points down.
With his first involvement in play, he sent Cathal Scullion through for a point. Although he added a point in extra time, it was obvious that he has a little bit more to do to gain full fitness.
Rocks looks to have a bigger battle on his hands to have any involvement in the semi-final. However his brother Cody had a big part to play in the eventual one-point win over Rathmore.
So too did Cody’s half-back colleague Emmett Speers, who hit two great points when badly needed and was continually racing forward with energy.
That single point win after extra-time in Owenbeg contrasts with Carrickmore’s 7-6 to 1-6 demolition of Lecale Trinity at the Dub a day earlier.
There is little doubt that the Tyrone school caught their opponents out too often with a swift counter-attack that invariably ended with the ball in the back of the net.
There were two goals each for Micheal McCallan and Kevin Cuddy and one each for Shea Munroe, Odhrán Curran and sub Vincent Gormley. But overall it was a competent team performance from a team that was actually beaten by St Pius' X and Knock in their qualification group.
There is possibly a danger in reading too much into those seven goals as I can’t see the Magherafelt defence penetrated as easily, even if Rocks and Speers go on their darting runs into attack.
Team captain Sean óg Teague didn’t start that quarter-final, but came on as a sub, so Dean Maguirc also seem to have a key player struggling with fitness.
Last year and this, the schools have met on three occasions in the MacLarnon Cup and each day, St Pius' X have come through with a narrow victory. They will be tipped to repeat their dominance – but a Carrickmore victory wouldn’t be a huge surprise.
