By 
IT proved to be a very good week for Tyrone schools in the Danske Bank MacRory Cup with all three of them recording victories.
First into action were Omagh CBS on Wednesday afternoon when they took on Abbey CBS in what was a repeat of last year’s Rannafast Cup decider but unlike that game, this proved to be one way traffic at Healy Park with the Brothers recording an emphatic 2-12 to 1-4 win.
The visitors began well to establish an early lead thanks to points from Cathal Craith, Dermot O’Rourke and Caolan McEntee but that proved to be their only scores of the first half as Omagh CBS dominated the remaining twenty minutes.
Jake Donnelly fisted the ball across the Abbey CBE goalmouth and it took a deflection on its way to the net and Omagh CBS never looked back. Tom Meenan weighed in with three points and centre half forward Peter Colton got another two following his opening score before defender Michael McNamee got forward to split the posts and leave it 1-7 to 0-4 at halftime.
McNamee opened the second half scoring as well and when Colton got his side’s second goal there was no way back for Abbey.
Colton, Harley Patton, Diarmuid Martin and Eoin Donnelly all added points for their winners and while Dan McKernan did bag a goal for the Down school it proved to be only of consolation value as Omagh CBS made it back to back wins to leave them in the hunt to finish first or second in their group.
The following day St Patrick’s Academy Dungannon and St Joseph’s Donaghmore were both in action and they recorded wins over St Mary’s of Magherafelt and Cathair Doire respectively.
It was a big contest in Newbridge as the Academy and Magherafelt were unbeaten in their pursuit to finish top of their group. The contest got off to an explosive start with Shea McCann scoring a second minute goal for Magherafelt only for Darragh Devlin to raise a green flag as well at the opposite end of the field.
The Derry lads then enjoyed good spell with Tony O’Hagan notching a brace of points and Joseph Cassidy, Michael Lennon and Michael Higgins on target as well. Dungannon though closed out the first half on top with two goals in as many minutes from Devlin and Davin McKeown with the latter also scoring a two pointer to give them a 3-5 to 1-6 advantage.
O’Hagan and McCann exchanged points with Liam McGeary and James Mulgrew in the opening moments of the second half before O’Hagan and Peter Coleman closed the gap.
It was end to end stuff with Charlie Maguire and Eoin Long registering for the Academy before McCann got his second goal late on when he converted a penalty. The deficit was down to two at this stage but Dungannon weren’t to be denied with substitute Ruairi O’Neill getting their fourth goal and Mulgrew tagging on a point as it finished 4-10 to 2-10.
In the same group St Joseph’s returned to winning ways when they edged out Cathair Doire at Celtic Park to make it two wins from three outings to make sure of their place in the playoffs.
It was even enough early on with Oisin Cullen, Adam Cushnahan, Oisin Molloy and Chris McCullough among the points for their respective sides. As the half wore on though Donaghmore got on top with Cushnahan getting a couple of points as well as a goal to leave them leading 1-8 to 0-4 at halftime.
St Joseph’s looked to be in control but two goals in a three minute spell midway through the second half from Rossa Fleming and Cillian Ferguson left it very much game on again. The Tyrone lads didn’t panic though with Cushnahan and Odhran Coleman both notching points as it finished 1-14 to 2-8.
