Draw not enough to keep Holy Trinity in MacRory Cup

Holy Trinity Cookstown 1-7  St.Pats Cavan 0-10

HOLY Trinity Cookstown exited the Danske Bank MacRory Cup in disappointing fashion at Roslea on Thursday evening when they were held to a draw by St Pat’s of Cavan.

A win for the Tyrone school would have put them through to the knockout stages of the competition after Christmas based on a head to head result but this stalemate means that the runners up in the last two years are now gone.

Holy Trinity led by a point at the break and when they moved four clear in the final quarter they looked to be well on their way to victory but they failed to score again as St Pat’s hit the last four points of the contest to salvage a draw and claim third spot in the group and a playoff.

Darragh Noonan opened the scoring for Cavan in the third minute but within 60 seconds Conor Mallon had levelled matters at the other end of the field.

Noonan then knocked over a free but the rest of the opening quarter belonged to Holy Trinity. Shea McCann sent over the equaliser and after Michael McElhatton had converted a “45” Liam Lawn made it a two point game with an effort from play. In the 19th minute Cavan almost got back in front but Luke Gilmartin fired over the bar when a goal looked to be on the cards.

McElhatton converted a free with Ben Tully responding for St Pat’s from play before defender Conor Devlin left two between the sides again. It was Cavan though who had the final say of the opening period through Senan Shiels to make it 0-6 to 0-5 at the break. Just before halftime Holy Trinity were dealt a blow when they had their captain McElhatton black carded.

Four minutes into the second half the sides were level when Finn Buckley split the posts and Cavan then almost got in for a goal with Noonan’s shot being cleared off the line by Holy Trinity defender Karol Wawrynkiewicz.

Lawn then edged Holy Trinity in front and in the 43rd minute they scored the only goal of the game when McElhatton coolly converted a penalty after he had been fouled himself. There is no doubt that Holy Trinity had their tails up at this stage but despite having possession they failed to score again for the remainder of the contest.

Sean McFaul began the St.Pat’ comeback with a point from a mark and with eight minutes to go fellow substitute Luke Maguire made it a two point game. Cavan were now looking dangerous and 60 seconds later the deficit was trimmed to the minimum when Noonan got his third point of the evening.

With so much at stake it proved to be a nervous finish and it looked as though Holy Trinity could hold out until Noonan broke their hearts with a 59th minute equaliser from a placed ball to send them tumbling out.