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St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley 5-20 St Paul’s, Raheny 0-4
St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley will proudly represent Tyrone and Ulster in the All-Ireland PPS Dr Eamonn O’Sullivan Cup Final after blitzing St Paul’s, Raheny at Oliver Plunkett Park in Crossmaglen on Saturday afternoon.
There is no doubt that the three tough tests that St Ciaran’s had to negotiate in the knockout stages of the Markey Cup stood to them as they were well-roadtested and hit the ground running here to simply blow their opponents away.
Man-of-the-match Shea McDermott had the ball over the bar inside ten seconds and that set the standard for the rest of the afternoon in a superb all-round team display.
By the 11th minute, the winners already had eight points on the scoreboard and, in truth, you knew that the game was already over as a contest.
At the back the St Ciaran’s defence gave their opponents no time on the ball and when they attacked they did so with plenty of support that their opponents simply couldn’t live with.
McDermott finished with an impressive 1-11 to his name but this in no way was a one-man show with everybody involved playing their part with the likes of Odhran Callaghan, Elliot Kerr, Micheal Mullin, Darren McAnespie, Matthew Hughes, Marcus McLaughlin and Conan Canavan to the fore as well.
It says it all that the Dublin side only managed one score in the first half and that came from a placed ball in the final minute as St Ciaran’s took a healthy 1-12 to 0-1 advantage to the changing rooms.
There was no let-up from the winners on the restart as they continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over while conceding just a single point from play as they marched into the final were they will face Balla Secondary school from Mayo.
McDermott had five points scored by the eighth minute with McLaughlin also on target as Raheny struggled to get the ball out of their own half. Hughes (2) and McAnespie both land quality scores with McDermott converting his second two-pointer from a free either side of centre half back Micheal Mullin finding the net. Eoin McGuirk converted a late free but the Dublin side were in big trouble.
Canavan landed a two-pointer from the throw-in and that was the signal for the winners to continue to dominate.
McDermott added another trio of points either side of right half back Elliot Kerr getting goal number two in the 38th minute. Two goals inside five minutes from McDermott and Canavan continued the onslaught with Hughes and Conor Quinn tagging on points.
Luke Hayes converted a brace of frees for St Paul’s either side of their only score from play from defender Oran Hurley but a rampant St Ciaran’s side closed the game out with goal number five from substitute Daire McGinn late on.
Scorers
St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley: Shea McDermott 1-11 (3 x tpF, 2F), Conan Canavan 1-3 (1 x tp), Matthew Hughes 0-3, Elliot Kerr 1-0, Micheal Mullin 1-0, Daire McGinn 1-0, Darren McAnespie 0-1, Conor Quinn 0-1, Marcus McLaughlin 0-1.
St Paul’s, Raheny: Luke Hayes 0-2 (2F), Oran Hurley 0-1, Eoin McGuirk 0-1 (F).
Teams
St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley: Dara O’Neill, Odhran McGeary, Odhran Callaghan, James Boyle, Elliot Kerr, Micheal Mullin, Callum McWilliam, Darren McAnespie, Matthew Hughes, Jude Curran, Shea McDermott, Conall Shevlin, Conor Quinn, Conan Canavan, Marcus McLaughlin. Subs: Jack Kelly for Curran, Sean Carty for Kerr, Matthew O’Donnell for Micheal Mullin, Daire McGinn for Shea McDermott, Tiernan McCarron for McLaughlin.
St Paul’s, Raheny: Liam Kelly, Shane Finlay, Rafael Almeida, Mark Lane, Bryan Coakley, Oran Hurley, Eoin Prendiville, Daniel Flynn, Kuba Markowicz, Alan Keane, Zach Donegan, Christian Kane, Conor Byrne, Eoin McGuirk, Conor Feeney. Subs: Luke Hayes for Feeney, Thomas McEvoy for Kane, Zach Ramsay for Lane.
Referee: Enda Mallon, Armagh
