St Pat’s Dungannon advance after dramatic penalty shootout

St Patrick’s 2-10  Patrician High  2-10

(St Patrick’s win 8-7 on penalties)

MADCAP stuff really and it’s hard to know where to start. St Patrick’s trailed by five points with 54 minutes on the clock and it looked very much like a case of goodnight Irene, but they belatedly arrived at the party, mounted a late comeback and eventually emerged triumphant on penalties, a full two-and-half hours since the 2pm throw-in time at Galbally on Saturday afternoon in this Ulster Schools MacRory Cup quarter-final.

For large swathes of the contest, particularly in the second-half, it looked like Dungannon couldn’t buy a score as they got tied up in knots and forced down alleyways by a supremely hard working and well-drilled Patrician team.

The Dungannon school hadn’t registered a single point in the second-half (well there was one instance but it was controversially struck off) when Patrician pounced for their second goal of the game with five minutes of regulation time remaining, Eoghan Farrelly drilling the ball home after a flurry of handpasses.

That surely would be that but with St Patrick’s MacRory hopes hanging by a thread, they sprang into life and brought the game to extra-time thanks to a late Liam McGeary goal and three cool-as-a-cucumber frees from Sean Hughes, playing on his home patch at Galbally.

From there on it was anyone’s game and neither side could be separated after two periods of extra-time. Penalties were called for, like ‘em or not, and it made for enthralling viewing with St Patrick’s eventually, and we mean eventually – there were 18 penalties taken in total – prevailing to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against neighbours St Joseph’s Donaghmore.

it was, needless to say, however, a slow burner of a contest. Patrician opted for a largely defensive formation that made life difficult for the Dungannon-based school. and there were a fair amount of potshots and wayward efforts as they struggled to get to grips with the opposition’s blanket defence.

St Patrick’s still managed to work their way into a 1-3 to 1-2 lead at the interval with a few players catching the eye namely Matthew Quinn, Patrick McGeary and Luke Neeson whose tackling and tracking back were all of the highest order. Their first-half goal, meanwhile, came from late inclusion Conall Sheehy.

Opponents Patrician worked their socks off throughout and they moved into a deserved 1-5 to 1-3 lead thanks to points from Eoghan Farrelly and free-taker Matthew Carolan. St Patrick’s were struggling, and it didn’t help matters that they were temporarily reduced to 14 men when key player Sean Hughes was black carded for a pull down.

The clock ticked inexorably forward with scores at a premium at both ends of the pitch. Dungannon were clocking up the wides and it looked like their race was well and truly run when Patrician pounced for their aforementioned 54th minute goal. They could’ve thrown in the towel at that stage but they drove forward in waves and the scores finally started to flow.

Sean Hughes brought the game to extra-time with the final kick and they continued where they left off with points from Conor Holmes, Hughes and Finn Spence. They were in the ascendancy with a 2-9 to 2-7 advantage on the scoreboard, but Patrician had the better of the second period of extra-time and it looked like victory was theirs when Conor Burns shot trickled over the bar with full-time nearly up. St Pat’s had one last chance to work an equaliser and they did so thanks to an advanced mark from Spence.

Gaelic football and penalties make for strange bedfellows but they certainly make for high drama and both sets of players did themselves proud in an elongated shoot-out in front of a bumper crowd at Galbally.

There had to be a winner and a loser and the game was settled when Patrician sub Fionan Markey missed the target with the 18th penalty sparking contrasting scenes of euphoria and devastation as St Pat’s booked their spot in the semi-finals in about the most roundabout way possible.

The Scorers
St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon
Sean Hughes (0-6, 0-1f), Liam McGeary (1-0), Conall Sheehy (1-0), Finn Spence (0-3, 0-2m), Conor Holmes (0-1)

Patrician, Carrickmacross
Matthew Carolan (0-4, 0-1 ‘45’), Eoghan Farrelly (1-1), Niall Meehan (1-0), Conor Burns (0-2, 0-1m), Conaill Marry, and Tomas Quinn (0-1 each)

The Teams
St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon
Naoise Quinn, Conall Sheehy, Owen O’Neill, Conall Morgan, Luke Neeson, Fiachra Nelis, Conor Holmes, Sean Hughes, Dillon O’Neill, Patrick McGeary, Matthew Quinn, Davin McKeown, Conor McCool, Finn Spence, Liam McGeary. Subs:Sheehan Fay for D O’Neill, Darragh Devlin for McCool, James Mulgrew for McKeown, Ronan Donnelly for N Quinn

Patrician, Carrickmacross
Oran Finnegan, Conaill Marry, Niall Meegan, Tomas Quinn, Packie Burke Doogan, Declan Lynch, Matthew Carolan, Conor Jones, Ryan Carolan, Odhran Maher, Luke Povall, Michael Kerley, Michael Og Tierney, Cian Rafferty, Conor Burns. Subs Eoghan Farrelly for R Carolan, Darren McNally for
Povall

Referee: Enda Mallon (Armagh)