Danske Bank MacNamee Cup semi-final
St Patrick’s Maghera 3-9 St Killian’s, Garron Tower 3-7
WHEN Oliver Mooney drilled a 35-metre free to the Maghera net in the 48th minute in Ballymena yesterday, St Killian’s seemed to have the momentum and the elements behind them to reach the MacNamee Cup final.
However, St Patrick’s dug in and didn’t concede a score over the final 12 minutes and now will face Cross & Passion – who beat St Mary’s CBGS, Belfast earlier in the week – in the final after Halloween.
After their performance over the opening 45 minutes, it was nothing less than the Maghera boys deserved. They dominated general play and took some excellent scores to establish a half-time lead of 3-7 to 1-3.
Despite a goal from Niall McAuley in the third minute, the Derry side fired over several points and then took the lead when Quintin Darren sent Patrick O’Loughlin through for a 12th-minute goal. They pushed home their advantage with goals from Darren and O’Loughlin in the five minutes before the break.
Although St Killian’s looked a little livelier during the third quarter, the half-time gap of 10 points remained with 15 to go. Then came two goals inside 70 seconds from Niall McAuley and Mooney’s free and suddenly Maghera’s lead looked in danger.
But they survived the pressure with Dominic O’Kane bringing off a point-blank save from Francis Kinney.
Scorers
St Patrick’s P O’Loughlin 2-3 (0-1f); Q Darren 1-2; H McCloskey 0-2f; S Herron & D McCloskey 0-1 each
St Killian’s N McAuley 2-0; O Mooney 1-2f; T McKeegan 0-3f; R Delargy & S McAuley 0-1 each
