Danske Bank Mageean Cup Group A, round two
OLSP, Knock 2-22 St Mary’s CBGS 4-14
OUR Lady and St Patrick’s, Knock bounced back from their opening-day reversal to St Louis’, Ballymena with a hard-fought victory over St Mary’s on home turf yesterday.
Niall May and Liam Blaney exchanged early frees, but it was the hosts who were on the money in the early stages as Frank Kane and Blaney sent over scores from play.
A fine Caolan Wilson point narrowed the gap, but Liam Blaney and Sean McCollum put Knock three clear, before Conor O’Neill and Luke Doran swapped scores.
The opening goal arrived in the 20th minute with Dara Pucci rifling low to the net from close range.
A second Kane point stretched the lead further but St Mary’s hit back with a goal. Corey Walsh’s shot was parried by Cillian Ennis and Niall May powered home at the second time of asking.
Although Knock pulled clear again with points from Kane, Sean O’Connell and Blaney, St Mary’s netted again a minute before the break.
Ruairi McDonagh flighted the ball into the path of Sean Óg McLaren and he rifled low to the net.
The fightback was short-lived, however, as Pucci was slipped in and applied the finish and a point from Ronan Donnelly in the aftermath left Knock with a 2-11 to 2-5 lead at the interval.
A point from Blaney extended that lead within three minutes of the restart, but McLaren slammed home a second goal in response, and then converted a free in between a Kevin Grieve point.
By the 40th minute, St Mary’s had gone ahead. Michael Marlow dropped in a high ball and Shea Burns poked home from close-range to make it 4-7 to 2-12.
Joseph Braniff pointed to restore parity and despite McLaren dropping over his first point from play, Blaney first tied things up, landed a super long-range point to nudge his side back in front and then converted a free.
Corey Walsh and Frank Kane exchanged points with a second converted McLaren free leaving the bare minimum separating the sides heading down the home straight.
Three unanswered points appeared to have swung the pendulum firmly in Knock’s favour, with Doran, Blaney and Kane on target.
However, their lead was almost wiped out by the fourth minute of added time, McLaren landing three frees in a six-minute period to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
However, Blaney swung over the insurance score deep into added time with the final puck of the game, bringing his personal tally to 12 points.
OLSP L Blaney 0-12 (0-1f); S O’Connell & S McCollum each 1-1; F Kane 0-4; D Pucci 1-0; L Doran 0-2; J Braniff & R Donnelly 0-1 each
St Mary’s S Og McLaren 2-7 (0-6f); N May 1-1; S Burns 1-0; C O’Neill 0-2; C Walsh, K Grieve & C Wilson 0-1 each
