By 
St.Patrick’s Dungannon 1-10 Our Lady’s Castleblaney 0-12
JAMES Mulgrew proved to be the hero with an injury-time winner as St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon turned defeat into victory in this MacRory Cup quarter final in Stewartstown on Thursday evening.
The pre-match favourites certainly looked the part early on as they played some superb, attacking football to establish a 0-8 to 0-1 lead by the 21st minute.
That deficit was cut to three by the interval and in the second half Castleblaney were much the better side. They left just the minimum between the sides and proceeded to miss four or five chances that could have put them out of sight. They eventually got level and then moved three in front and it looked all over for a Dungannon side who hadn’t scored in the second half.
That all changed in the 58th minute when they struck for an equalising goal from Liam McGeary and the drama wasn’t finished yet as midfielder Mulgrew fired over a superb winning score.
There is no doubt that the Academy weren’t at their best here and credit for that has to go to Our Lady’s but the Tyrone School know that they will have to improve with Abbey Vocational School Donegal next up in the semi-final in Fintona on Thursday evening.
It was Aodhan Quinn who opened the scoring after only thirty five seconds when he cut in from the wing to Fire over and that was quickly followed by further quality strikes from Eoin Long and Darragh Devlin.
Sean Murtaugh then opened Castleblaney’s account in the 6th minute with a fine individual point and in the next attack they carved open the Academy defence but Ryan Lynch fired wide with a goal on the cards. It was a letoff for the Academy but they made the most of it with Long scoring from play as well as a free for a 0-5 to 0-1 lead.
The game was being played on Dungannon’s terms and Quinn curled over a delightful two pointer before Charlie Maguire registered to leave Castleblaney in trouble.
The Academy though were to score just two more points in the remaining forty minutes as the Monaghan lads hit back. A Murtagh free was followed by a two pointer from a placed ball from James Ennis and while Mulgrew responded for Dungannon late efforts from Pauric Carville and Evan Treanor left it 0-9 to 0-6 at halftime.
The second half proved to be a different story as Castleblaney got on top. Substitute Alex McGinnity was making a real impact for them and he registered from play as well as from a free to leave just the minimum between the sides by the 38th minute.
Dungannon were struggling to get primary possession but the wastefulness of their opponents in front of the posts was coming to their aid. A free from Tristan Nugent at the beginning of the final quarter eventually got Castleblaney back on level terms ad they had all the momentum at that stage.
With nine minutes to go Murtagh hit a brilliant two pointer and that was followed by a third from McGinnity as they kicked for home.
Devlin had an effort for goal cleared off the line by Carville as the tension grew.
In the 58th minute Dungannon finally opened their second half account and they did it in style as Devlin turned over a ball and fed Lorcan McMurray who centred for McGeary to palm to the net to level matters.
Castleblaney came straight down the field and McGinnity hit the post and it proved to be crucial as moments later Mulgrew landed the match winning score.
Scorers
St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon: Eoin Long 0-3 (1f), Aodhan Quinn 0-3 (1x 2pt), Liam McGeary 1-0, James Mulgrew 0-2, Charlie Maguire 0-1, Darragh Devlin 0-1
Our Lady’s Castleblaney: Sean Murtagh 0-4 (1 × 2pt), Alex McGinnity 0-3 (1f), James Ennis 0-2 (2pf), Tristan Nugent 0-1 (f), Pauric Carville 0-1, Evan Treanor 0-1
Teams
St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon: Ronan Donnelly, Charlie Mulligan, Matthew Daly, Paddy Park, Colm Diver, Ross Daly, Davin McKeown, James Mulgrew, Michael Hughes, Darragh Devlin, Aodhan Quinn, Jonah Feeney, Charlie Maguire, Eoin Long, Liam McGeary, Subs: Lorcan McMurray for Maguire, Odhran Scully for Diver, Ruairi O’Neill for Feeney
Our Lady’s Castleblaney: Donnacadh Murphy, Jack Sullivan, Patrick Carroll, Fionnan Markey, Harry McQuillian, Oliver Kelly, Charlie Mone, Senan Hanratty, James Ennis, Ryan Lynch, Evan Treanor, Tiernan McGeough, Sean Murtagh, Tristan Nugent, Pauric Carville. Subs: Alex McGinnity for Lynch, Mark Drury for McQuillan, Shane Byrne for Carroll
Referee: Paul Faloon, Down
