Disappointment for Holy Trinity in first ever MacRory final

Holy Trinity College 0-8

St Mary’s Magherafelt 2-9

IT had been some journey to this point, but Holy Trinity Cookstown could have no major complaints after falling to a seven-point defeat to St Mary’s Magherafelt in todays MacRory Cup final.

Played in front of more than 6000 spectators at the Athletic Grounds, Holy Trinity responded well after the setback of conceding two early goals, and while they trailed by 0-4 to 2-1 at half-time, the sense was that they had more in the tank and could push on after the break.

However, it was St Mary’s who seized the iniatitive in the third quarter, rattling off five points on the trot with corner-forward Niall O’Donnell and half-back Ruairi Forbes playing a massive part in their impressive second-half performance.

It looked like it could be a long afternoon for Holy Trinity when they were carved open for an O’Donnell goal after only three minutes of play, and worse was to follow midway through the first-half when Cahir Quinn hit the net.

However, the Cookstown side, appearing in their first ever final at this level, were actually playing well at this juncture and were particularly dominant in the midfield sector with Ruairi McHugh winning a mountain of possession.

Points from Terry Devlin, who played his heart out, and McHugh left only three points between the teams at the break, but St Mary’s stepped it up a gear and scored a succession of scores leaving Holy Trinity playing catch up for the remainder of the contest.

Shea Lawn hit two impressive frees to keep Holy Trinity in contention, but St Mary’s weren’t to be denied and finished strongly with points from Lorcan Convery and player of the match O’Donnell to win their second ever MacRory Cup final.