By 
ST PATRICK’S Dungannon were comfortable – almost too comfortable – at half-time of Sunday’s Ulster Schools MacRory Cup Final against Abbey CBS and they almost paid the ultimate price.
Nine points to the good at half-time, they were reeled in relentlessly by their Newry-based opponents, so here we are – already only four days out from Friday night’s replay encounter.
Speaking after the game, St Patrick’s joint-manager Ciaran Gourley, himself a MacRory and Hogan Cup winner in his playing days, says they’re just going to have to keep the heads up after relinquishing such a comfortable lead.
“Of course you have to stay positive. I know the players coming into the changing room were disappointed and naturally so, given we were in a good position, but we have to look at the match and assess things to see what we can improve in the replay.”
As for where it all went so badly awry, one particular aspect of their play stuck out like a sore thumb. In the second-half they lost restart-after-restart and Abbey CBS made hay with their possession.
“Kickouts were obviously the biggest thing. It’s something we’re going to have to look at, to see how what we can do better.
“Credit to Abbey, they really hunted us down. The flipside in the first half is we got a few scores out of their kickouts as well. Both teams will have things they’ll want to work on.
“It’s youth football, the boys are still learning. It was a big occasion and it’s hard to know how they were going to react to that.
“We have to look at it and make sure the same thing doesn’t happen in the next game.”
St Pat’s were really purring in the first-half as they surged into a 1-13 to 0-7 lead at the interval. Their full-forward line alone scored 1-10 from play in the opening period, and it would’ve taken a brave man to bet against them at the mid-way juncture. Once Abbey CBS started to exert control on proceedings, the Academy just couldn’t find a way to halt their march.
“We moved really well at times in the first half and missed a couple of goal chances ourselves. Eoin [Long] got a goal and we had a couple of other chances after that, which would have helped us along the way.
“At the same time some of the scores were really good but when you have those opportunities you have to push on, and we could have pushed on a bit further.
“It felt dangerous at half-time, having that lead, and how to make sure those boys remained focused and in the right frame of mind.
“I thought early on in the second half Abbey got a couple of wee frees which brought them back into the game. James Mulgrew came up and got a point for us, and we thought okay maybe we can keep doing that, responding each time they got a score, but they were relentless and it was hard for us to stop it.”
