MAGHERA MASTERS

Danske Bank Ulster Colleges MacRory Cup Quarter Final
St Patrick’s 3-07
St Macartan’s 2-04
By JOHN GRAHAM

SAINT Macartan’s College’s MacRory Cup famine will move into a 59th year after a disappointing quarter-final defeat against holders St. Pat’s, Maghera in Armagh last Friday night.

Having won the MacCormack Cup late last year, hopes were raised that an experienced Sem team could bridge the long gap, but they failed to hit those heights in a fairly scrappy game.

The north-Monaghan school had been prolific throughout the league section, but they managed just three scores in each half of this game, with a total of just 1-2 from play.

The Sem led for almost the entire first half, but a soft goal in the 30th minute gave Maghera a boost and they were never caught after the restart.

A strong, well-balanced St. Pat’s side had influential performances from Conor Glass, Danny Tallon, Paul Gunning, Peter Hagan and Oisín Hegarty, while the Sem were unable to get key men like Conor McCarthy (playing in a deeper half-forward role) into their stride.

David McAlister opened the scoring with a fifth-minute point for St. Macartan’s, but Paul McAtamney brought Maghera level from a 30-metre free after a foul on Jack Doherty, while Conor Convery was off-target from a similar opportunity.

The Sem won the first of the game’s two penalties on ten minutes when Christopher McAnenly, McAlister and …