St Joseph’s tops in MacRory Cup derby tie

St.Joseph’s Donaghmore 1-10 Holy Trinity Cookstown 1-7

History was made at Pearse Park in Galbally on Friday afternoon when St.Joseph’s Donaghmore played their first ever game in the Danske Bank MacRory Cup and it proved to be a day to remember for them as they beat local rivals Holy Trinity Cookstown by three points.

The playing surface was superb but the contest was played in difficult weather conditions with heavy fog making life difficult for both sets of players as well as the referee. Apart from the opening score Donaghmore led from start to finish and were worthy winners with a Michael McElhatton goal in the last attack of the game giving Holy Trinity a slightly better look on the scoreboard.

Conor O’Neill produced a man of the match display for St.Joseph’s with Noah Grimes, James Rafferty and Fionn McHugh others to catch the eye for the winners. St.Josephs fielded with eight starters from the side who won the All Ireland Paddy Drummond Cup last season and no doubt they will prove tough opponents going forward in the MacRory Cup.

There was two minutes gone on the clock when McElhatton opened the scoring for Holy Trinity with what proved to be the one and only time that they would have their noses in front. It took eleven minutes for St.Joseph’s to pen their account from midfielder Conor O’Neill before the same player put them in front two minutes later.

The winners were well set up defensively as they gave their opponents little room to create scores and as the half wore on they began to make their dominance count on the scoreboard. Donnacha O’Neill put them two in front before Joseph Corrigan increased their advantage further. Grimes then got his first score of the afternoon before Holy Trinity centre half back Conor Devlin split the posts for his side to end a barren spell and leave the halftime score 0-5 to 0-2.

Holy Trinity Cookstown enjoyed their best spell of the game on the restart as they managed to get themselves back on level terms but couldn’t edge in front. Wing half back Shea McCann opened the second half scoring in the 33^rd minute before Eoin Long left just the minimum between the two sides.

In the 39^th minute a McElhatton free left it all square and Holy Trinity looked to have all the momentum at this stage. Moments later though a well taken Darragh Donaghy point gave St.Joseph’s a lead that they were never to lose.

In the 41^st minute Donaghmore almost got in for a goal but Donaghy’s well struck shot produced a brilliant save from Holy Trinity keeper Ruairi Dillon.

The pressure did pay off at the end of the third quarter when Mattie McNally got forward to palm a high ball to the back of the Cookstown net to put some daylight between the sides. Holy Trinity needed a response and they got it from impressive defender Karol Wawrynkiewicz with two points in as many minutes to leave it 1-6 to 0-7 with a dozen minutes left on the clock.

It was anybody’s game at this stage but crucially St.Josephs upped the tempo with four points in a row to take it away from their opponents. Conor and Donnacha O’Neill both scored from play with Grimes knocking over a brace of frees as the contest entered injury time. In the last attack of the game McElhatton did find the net for Holy Trinity but it proved to be only a consolation score as the referee blew for full time.

The Scorers

St.Joseph’s Donaghmore

Conor O’Neill 0-3, Noah Grimes 0-3 (2F), Mattie McNally 1-0, Donnacha O’Neill 0-2, Joseph Corrigan 0-1, Darragh Donaghy 0-1

Holy Trinity Cookstown

Michael McElhatton 1-2 (1F), Karol Wawrynkiewicz 0-2, Conor Devlin 0-1, Shea McCann 0-1, Eoin Long 0-1

The Teams

St.Joseph’s Donaghmore

Sean Kennedy, Caolann Quinn, James Rafferty, Tegan Burns, Jamie McCarthy, Jude McNally, Mattie McNally, Conor O’Neill, Fionn McHugh, Leo Hughes, Noah Grimes, Donnacha O’Neill, Darragh Donaghy, Eoghan O’Neill, Joseph Corrigan.

Holy Trinity Cookstown

Ruairi Dillon, Jamie Concannon, Conor Doris, Karol Wawrynkiewicz, Edan McCartney, Conor Devlin, Shea McCann, Conan Devlin, Ryan Nugent, Eoin Long, Liam Lawn, Thomas Hurl, Eoin Canavan, Michael McElhatton, Conor Mallon.

Referee

Kieran Eannetta, Omagh