Danske Bank MacRory Cup St Patrick’s Maghera 2-8 Omagh CBS 1-9
A devastating thirteen minute period either side of half time was the catalyst for Maghera's two point win over a fancied Omagh CBS last Friday night in Emyvale. It was a long trek to the Monaghan venue but Paul Hughes' young side look to be peaking at the right time.
What a different a week makes? After stumbling over the line against the Abbey; there was a subdued atmosphere. Neither Conor Glass nor Paul Hughes were overly excited, relief was the dominant emotion last week at The Dub.
Despite the incessant rain at St Oliver Plunkett Park, the young St Patrick's squad where in a much better place.
Body language doesn’t lie – as they filtered towards the dressing rooms you could sense Maghera were in the perfect position. They had taken out one of the big guns but still there was room for improvement.
It leaves Paul Hughes and Colum Lavery in the perfect scenario of having the mentality of their players exactly where they to be.
The statement fits and starts' comes to mind when summing up Maghera's disposal of Omagh. St Patrick's outscored their opponents 2-6 to 0-1 in that purple patch, from the twenty fifth minute to the thirty eight minute.
Post game, Hughes hinted that it was a very 'honest' dressing room at half time but I'm sure there was the relief of overcoming a six point deficit in the last five minutes.
Early on Omagh were quick out of the blocks three points from Johnny Harkn, James Darcy and wing back Tiernan Murray. Over the hour Murray was The Brothers' best player, the Carrickmore man was everywhere and constantly wanting to get on the ball.
Trailing 0-3 to no score after sixteen minutes, Maghera looked out of sorts and were struggling to make any headway. When they got off the mark it was a difficult free by Shane McGuigan from close to the sideline.
Straight from the kickout Glass grabbed possession but Maghera played patient football before Shane McGuigan curled over from the other wing. It was short and sharp from Maghera but they failed to keep their foot on the pedal.
Omagh grabbed the ascendency back again with points from Oisin Donnelly and James Darcy. Paul Hughes’ would have breathed a sigh of relief moments later when Darcy missed a sitter of a goal, pulling his shot to the left. The Tattyreagh man had more time to settle on the shot.
The alarm bells were ringing for Maghera’s defence and Omagh made no mistake with their next chance.
Eoighan Keenan won possession from the kick out and ran at the Maghera rear guard before offloading to full forward Oran Sludden and the Dromore man slotted to the net despite the best efforts of ‘keeper Cassidy, 24 minutes gone, Omagh 1-5 Maghera 0-2.
It looked like Omagh would build on their commanding lead but instead it sparked a Maghera response. They needed to take a foothold in the game and it was the Glass and McGuigan axis that was pivotal. It was almost telepathic.
McGuigan won possession but Moss and McGlinchey ‘wrapped him up’, as the Omagh line kept instructing their players to do. Maghera played patient possession football and worked the ball to Conor Glass for a point.
Maghera may have a goal moments later, a crossfield ball from Glass found Shane McGuigan and shot skimmed the top of the bar.
A purposeful run by Odhran McKeever kept Maghera going forward and when Francis Kearney was fouled, Glass tapped the free over with ease and the sizeable crowd tightly packed under the Emyvale stand sensed the game was changing.
Oisin Donnelly replied with a point for Omagh with his direct running opening up some room. It was blip in the St Patrick’s dominance.
Patrick Kearney won a terrific breaking ball in the middle of the field and when Conall Darragh got on the end of the move he crashed to the net.
He deserved the goal. It was the pocket sized Glen man’s third involvement in the same attack as he linked well with Shane McGuigan and wing back Paddy McCormick.
In stoppage time Conor Glass worked a free short to corner back Keelan Feeney who kicked high into the Monaghan sky and it dropped over the bar, Maghera were level and were going to be hard to stop.
Early in the second half Francis Kearney kicked another monster score with Conor Glass adding another and Omagh were in trouble.
The Derry men were winning every battle on the field, the dirty ball around the middle. They were turning Omagh in a manner that was missing from their Abbey performance.
Kilrea’s Paddy Quigg inflicted more hurt on Omagh, he worked the ball through their defence with an interchange of passes with Oisin McWilliams and Shea Downey before showing control and calmness to place his kick beyond Gallen and into the net.
This capped off Maghera’s ruthless spell in the game. Colum Lavery and Paul Hughes will wonder what could happen if this team could click for the hour.
A free from Darcy and a fine individual effort from midfielder Keenan attempted to stem the Maghera dominance and with fifteen minutes remaining Omagh trailed 1-8 to 2-8. When they look back they will regret their missed frees. It’s all about taking your chances when they come along.
There was only one score in the final quarter but St Patrick’s held the initiative without really killing the game off. They will need to improve this aspect of their game.
The score when it did come was an Omagh goal chance. Tiernan Murray again involved in the move as Omagh surged forward, passing to substitute Conor Loughran and he found an unmarked Peter Óg McCartan but his shot whizzed over the bar.
It was now a dangerous two point lead and took a magnificent catch above the bar by Sean Cassidy in the dying moments to finally see Maghera home and dry.
Maghera Scorers: Shane McGuigan (0-3, one free), Conor Glass (0-3, one free), Francis Kearney (0-1), Paddy Quigg (1-0), Conall Darragh (1-0) and Keelan Feeney (0-1).
Omagh Scorers: Oran Sludden (1-0), James Darcy (0-3, two frees), Oisin Donnelly (0-2), Johnny Harkin (0-1 free),Tiernan Murray (0-1), Eoighan Keenan (0-1) and Peter Óg McCartan (0-1).
Maghera Team: Sean Cassidy (Slaughtneil), Odhran McKeever (Dugiven), Patrick Turner (Swatragh), Keelan Feeney (Slaughtneil), Conor McAllister (Slaughtneil), Shea Downey (Lavey), Paddy McCormick (Moneyglass), Conor Glass (Glen), Patrick Kearney (Swatragh), Jack Doherty (Glen), Dara McPeake (Lavey), Conall Darragh (Glen), Francis Kearney (Swatragh), Shane McGuigan (Slaughtneil), Paddy Quigg (Kilrea).
Subs: Oisin McWilliams (Swatragh) for Dara McPeake (9mins), Michael Mullan (Drumsurn) for Patrick Kearney (42mins), Tiernan McHugh (Drumsurn) for Francis Kearney (44mins)
Omagh Team: Brendan Gallen, Cahir Moss, Ciaran McGlinchey, James McGurk, Peter Og McCartan, Eoghain Murray, Tiernan Murray, Eoighan Keenan, John Hartin, Oisin Donnelly, James Darcy, Aidan Fullerton, PT Cunningham, Oran Sludden, Cathal Stars
Subs: Shane Devine for PT Cunningham (HT), Conor Loughran for Shane Devine (45mins), Ryan Gray for Aidan Fullerton (26mins)
No comments:
Post a Comment