By 
ST PAT’S ACADEMY DUNGANNON 0-8 ABBEY CBS NEWRY 0-12
ST PATRICK’S Academy Dungannon came up short in their quest to land a sixth Ulster Schools MacRory Cup title as they lost out to a physically imposing Abbey CBS in Friday night’s Final replay at the Athletic Grounds.
The Newry boys dominated this disappointing encounter for the most part, their control around the middle sector of the pitch ensuring that the Academy attack fed off scraps in the main.
Dungannon trailed 0-6 to 0-2 at the break after a frenetic but scrappy first period, as they struggled to establish any attacking cohesion or fluency.
Their only scores arrived in the opening three minutes via Jonah Feeney (after 12 seconds) and Liam McGeary with a free, but after that they failed to register another flag of any description.
Impressive Abbey skipper Diarmaid O’Rourke was responsible for four of their points, including a brace of frees, though during their sustained period of dominance the Abbey also dropped three efforts short into the grateful clutches of Dungannon keeper Ronan Donnelly.
When Daniel McKernan blasted over an excellent two pointer in the 23rd minute Newry had eased four to the good. Yet they required a couple of saves from goalie James McBennett to prevent first Aodhan Quinn and then Davin McKeown finding the net at the other end which would have breathed new life into the Academy challenge.
Eoin Long (free) and midfielder Michael Hughes each split the posts to halve the deficit soon after the restart but Dungannon could never really build up a head of steam as Abbey reasserted control, gobbling up countless Academy kickouts to remain in the ascendancy.
The impressive McKernan steered over a ‘mark’, O’Rourke tagged on another free and Oisin Byrne cut loose to fist a score as the Abbey eased into a 0-9 to 0-4 lead at the three quarter mark.
That remained the gap after Liam McGeary and O’Rourke traded scores and while the Academy industry could not be faulted, it appeared their resistance was beginning to wilt.
Charlie McGrath sliced through to slip over another Newry score, leaving Dungannon desperately chasing a goal.
After Eoin Long tagged on a free, McGeary surged through looking to hit the net but his effort whistled over the bar.
Dungannon skipper Davin McKeown then left just a score between the sides, however a fisted McKernan point proved to be the insurance score for the Newry boys.
Teams & Scorers
St Pat’s Dungannon: Ronan Donnelly, Charlie Mulligan, Matthew Daly, Paddy Park, Colm Diver, Ross Daly, Davin McKeown (0-1), James Mulgrew, Michael Hughes (0-1), Darragh Devlin, Aodhan Quinn, Jonah Feeney (0-1), Lorcan McMurray, Eoin Long (0-2,2f), Liam McGeary (0-3,1f). Subs used: Odhrain Scully for M Daly (46), Dara O’Hagan for R Daly (46), Charlie Maguire for J Feeney (50), Ruairi O’Neill for M Hughes (54)
Abbey CBS: James McBennett, Finn Madine, Conor Laverty, Cathal Burns, Michael O’Neill, Diarmaid O’Rourke (0-6,3f) , Fergus Toole, Keelan McEntee, Dara Havern, Oisin Byrne (0-1), Charlie McGrath (0-1), Daniel McKernan (0-4,1tp, 1m), Odhran Reel, Daniel Carr, Jack O’Mahoney. Subs used: Ryan O’Hare for O Reel (53), Tiarnan O’Neill for M O’Neill (60)
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan)
