By 
St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon 1-15
Abbey CBS 0-18
By Niall Gartland
THE proverbial game of two halves: St Patrick’s Academy held a rather handsome nine-point lead at the interval of this afternoon’s MacRory Cup final, but their opponents Abbey CBS assumed control of the contest after the break, reeled them in, and by the final whistle of a hugely absorbing contest, it looked like there was only going to be one winner.
Dungannon only mustered two rather lonely points in the second-half but really, that was only the net effect of a systems failure from restarts that they never really came close to rectifying.
And yes, they’ll be disappointed that they didn’t seal the deal – they played some incredible stuff in the opening period, at one stage scoring nine points without reply – but the game had titled so completely on its head after the break, that they should be content enough with a share of the spoils. The replay, by the way, is penciled in for this Friday night.
The early exchanges boded well for Abbey CBS, who opened up a 0-2 to no score lead in the first three minutes. Dangerman Diarmaid O’Rourke landed both points – one from play, one from a free – and St Pat’s needed some last-ditch defending from Charlie Mulligan and Matthew Daly to prevent their deficit from extending further.
The Academy conjured a goal against the run of play but it really was a peach – Liam McGeary, who bestrode the stage like a colossus in the first half, played through a sumptuous handpass over his shoulder to Eoin Long who pinged a low shot to the net.
Their lead lasted a matter of seconds as Ryan O’Hare responded for Abbey CBS, who were winning the majority of the midfield exchanges.
Lorcan McMurray steered over his first of the day after a crisp one-two with McGeary, though Abbey CBS were still looking dangerous and O’Hare’s effort at goal sliced wide down the other end of the pitch.
Charlie McGrath made it 0-4 to 1-1 with the Newry school’s latest point of the afternoon, but this is when momentum of the game shifted in its totality. Between the 11th and 20th minutes, St Pat’s tagged on nine points without reply in a devastating showing of strength against their increasingly ragged opposition.
Tyrone minor star James Mulgrew plucked the ball out of the skies shortly before another All-Ireland Minor winner Eoin Long split the posts. That got the show on the road.
Another kick-out was gobbled up by Aodhán Quinn (another All-Ireland champion) and he traded passes with McGeary before landing a second point in a minute.
And the scores kept on coming. A languid strike from McGeary. Lorcan McMurray. McGeary – again. And again and again and again – the sensational McGeary landed four points in-a-row during their sustained purple patch, a remarkable display of score-taking. Shell-shocked Abbey CBS couldn’t get their mitts on possession and St Pat’s made it 1-10 to 0-4 with his third point from play of the day. Was the game already good as over?
There were still 10 minutes remaining in the half and Abbey CBS gave themselves a good shake, shored up their defence and started to find their way again. Quickfire scores from Keelan McEntee and Fergus Toale kept the Academy on their toes, who responded with a lovely two-pointer from their captain Davin McKeown, who battled on after injurying his hand later in the half.
There were two further scores before the whistle, including a gorgeous effort from McMurray, but a goal chance in the dying seconds served as a reminder that Abbey hadn’t gone away, Ronan Donnelly making a finger-tip save to deny Michael O’Neill. How he kept it out, God only knows – it didn’t even trickle over the endline in the final reckoning. 1-13 to 0-7 at the interval, the job was half done – and every single one of St Pat’s scores had come from open play.
Abbey CBS started the second half strongly with two frees from O’Rourke, Dungannon getting their account ticking over again when Mulgrew came storming through.
O’Rourke tagged on another, his fourth free of the day, but on the whole the game had entered a temporary lull. St Pat’s looked very well-coached at the back and forced a number of turnovers before McGeary weighed in with his sixth of the play after a tidy assist midfielder Michael Hughes.
Daniel McKernan reduced the deficit to seven points and it was nearly brought down to four when half-back Toale ghosted forward and could only manage hit the side-netting as the final quarter hovered into view.
Then, a possible sliding-doors moment as McKernan floated over a stupendous two-pointer from a long-range free. Abbey were in the ascendancy in the middle sector at this juncture so the game was by no means over.
Keelan McEntee weaved his way through for another Abbey point and with 10 minutes to go, the momentum lay squarely with the comeback-chasers. The Academy were struggling big-time on their own kick-out and they really needed a score to stem the tide.
It was the CBS who got the next point however, McKernan latching onto an inviting cross-field ball from McEntee and duly converting. 1-15 to 0-15 with 54 minutes gone, St Pat’s were in big, big danger and were struggling to stitch together any meaningful passages of possession.
And then somehow, ridiculously, Academy sub Ruairi O’Neill saved their bacon with a ludicrous double save. Abbey CBS had two attempts at it after a lovely long ball, but Odhran Reel and Charlie McGrath were somehow denied a goal with O’Neill positioned on the line. The outfield player, who had been unleashed from the bench just moments earlier, still had plenty of work to do on both occasions – it was heroic, potentially game-winning stuff.
Abbey weren’t put off their stride, however, Charlie McGrath leaving only two points between the teams. It was all Abbey as injury-time approached but St Pat’s still had the lead – just about!
Four minutes of injury time were called for and Jack O’Mahony made it a single-point game with plenty of time left to snatch an equaliser. And it wasn’t long in arriving, O’Rourke playing through full-forward Daniel Carr who was never going to miss. It turned out to be the final score of an utterly frantic finale. Did St Pat’s Academy get out of dodge, or was this an opportunity missed? Time will tell with a replay scheduled for this Friday night.
Scorers
St Patrick’s Academy: Liam McGeary (0-6), Lorcan McMurray (0-4), Eoin Long (1-1), Davin McKeown (0-2, 1 2pt) Aodhán Quinn and James Mulgrew (0-1 each)
Abbey CBS: Diarmaid O’Rourke (0-5, 4f), Daniel McKernan (0-4, 1 2pt f), Charlie McGrath (0-3), Keelan McEntee (0-2), Jack O’Mahony, Fergus Toale, Ryan O’Hare and Daniel Carr (0-1 each)
Teams
St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon: Ronan Donnelly, Charlie Mulligan, Matthew Daly, Paddy Park, Colm Diver, Ross Daly, Davin McKeown, James Mulgrew, Michael Hughes, Darragh Devlin, Aodhán Quinn, Jonah Feeney, Lorcan McMurray, Eoin Long, Liam McGeary. Subs: Odhran Scully for Diver, Ruairi O’Neill for Feeney, Dara O’Hagan for R Daly
Abbey CBS: James McBennett, Fionn Madine, Conor Laverty, Cathal Burns, Michael O’Neill, Diarmuid O’Rourke, Fergus Toale, Keelan McEntee, Dara Havern, Oisin Byrne, Charlie McGrath, Daniel McKernan, Ryan O’Hare, Daniel Carr, Jack O’Mahony. Subs: Odhran Reel for O’Hare, Tiarnan O’Neill for Havern
