Danske Bank Casement Cup final
St Patrick’s, Keady 3-10 Rathmore Grammar 2-11
WHEN Aodhán O’Hanlon pointed to make it 2-11 to 1-5 in the 50th minute, Rathmore looked home and hosed. Ronan Taylor and Christopher Robb had dominated the previous 20 minutes and Keady seemed jaded.
However, Charlie Lennon rejuvenated the Armagh challenge by forcing home a goal in the next attack. Suddenly the momentum changed with Jack Loughran and James Hamilton dropping back to crowd the middle third and pick off points.
Conor Lappin’s goal from inside his own half in the 57th minute left only a point between the teams and Loughran converted three late frees to deliver the knock-out blow.
Rathmore got the perfect start with a goal from Aodhán McLaughlin and within a couple of minutes Christopher Robb had added a point.
However, a few fouls around their half-back line gave Jack Loughran the openings to fire over three frees and get Keady up and running.
The middle part of the half belonged to the Belfast school with the darting runs of Fionn McCann and Ronan Taylor creating problems that Robb converted into points from frees.
However, Keady got a break in the 17th minute when the ball fell handily for James Hamilton to flash to the net. Between then and the break there was just one further score, from a Robb free, that saw Rathmore change ends with a lead of 1-5 to 1-3.
As they had done in the opening half, the Belfast school got out of the blocks early and each score was a gem. Points from Ronan Taylor, Robb (three) and Aodhán McLaughlin were followed by a superb goal from Robb in the 49th minute.
But Keady, from registering just two points over the 20 minutes after half-time, suddenly sprang into life and the scores followed.
