Nolan Cup delight for St Patrick’s Dungannon

St.Patricks Dungannon 5-10 Lismore College 1-12

It has been a good season for Tyrone schools in the various Ulster competitions and St.Patricks College Dungannon added their names to the list of trophy winners after a fine display saw them beat Lismore College at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh on Thursday afternoon in the Nolan Cup Final.

Both defences were on top in the opening ten minutes as they conceded just a point each but in the 12^th minute Este Da Concecaio won a long kick out before racing through to blast an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net. Conor Taggart then opened his account from a free before fellow corner forward Thomas Slater got his side’s second goal in the 17^th minute.

It was just the start that Dungannon were looking forward and in truth they never looked back. Daniel Murphy responded with a Lismore point but when Taggart caught a long ball in from Peter McKeever before finishing to the net you got the feeling that it was going to be Dungannon’s day with Ronan McGuinness adding to their lead.

To their credit the Armagh school rallied approaching half time and a clinical finish from full forward Murphy gave them hope for the second period, 3-3 to 1-4.

Patrick McKeown and Benas Petronis helped close the gap on the restart but when Taggart got his second goal normal service was resumed. Eoghain McGahan and Max McKenna added points before Taggart completed his hattrick. Murphy, Petronis and Shea McAliskey had Lismore points with McKenna hitting a brace in response as Dungannon emerged emphatic winners.

Dungannon scorers: Conor Taggart 3-2 (2F), Max McKenna 0-4 (1F), Thomas Slater 1-1, Este Da Concecaio 1-0, Eoghain McGahan 0-2, Ronan McGuinness 0-1

Lismore scorers: Daniel Murphy 1-5 (3F), Benas Petronis 0-4 (1F), Ronan Nixon 0-1 (1F), Patrick McKeown 0-1, Shea McAliskey 0-1