Danske Bank MacRory Cup: St Patrick’s, Maghera 5-12 St Macartan’s, Monaghan 2-9
ST PATRICK’S, Maghera ended the only unbeaten run left in Section A of the MacRory Cup – but not by as clear-cut a margin as the final scoreline suggests.
St Macartan’s actually recovered from a dreadful start, that included the concession of 1-2 before Conor Lynch opened their scoring in the 13th minute. Jack Doherty scored that Maghera goal after 10 minutes, but St Macartan’s came back strongly with five points in-a-row, two of them from midfielder Pádraig Finnan.
Maghera, who were playing against the breeze, scored their second goal in the 22nd minute, Ryan McElwee completing a good length-of-the-field move. But Finnan won a good ball around the middle of the park, played it through to his forwards and moved up on the blind side to take a pass and shoot to the net, putting the Sem ahead by 1-7 to 2-3.
However, Maghera finished the half with two points and opened the second with five more to move into a strong position at 2-10 to 1-7.
Although James McKenna responded with a point, two goals inside 90 seconds from Daragh McPeake and Patrick Quigg closed the door on the Monaghan side. Francis Kearney converted a 56th minute penalty after Conor Glass was pulled down and Sem full-back James McKenna hit back with a late consolation goal as Maghera, with two wins in the space of three days, move up the table.
