Danske Bank Mageean Cup quarter-final
St Louis Ballymena 5-6 St Patrick’s Maghera 1-9
First half goals from Shane O’Boyle and Colla McDonnell edged St. Louis into a two point half time lead in this Mageean Cup semi-final in Ahoghill today but it looked far from over at the half way mark with St. Patrick’s providing plenty of problems for the Kintullagh side in the opening half.
The St. Patrick’s comeback failed to materialise however despite Jimmy Dougan closing the gap to one on the restart as O’Boyle went on to complete his hat-trick with the superb Rory McCloskey putting the game to bed from a late penalty.
Maghera opened strongly to lead by 0-3 to 0-1 after ten minutes but with Rory McCloskey prominent at midfield for St Louis and Daire McMullan and Conor Dickson dominant at the back the Ballymena side began to gain a foothold.
O’Boyle had scored that early Ballymena point and he broke the ball into the path of Colla McDonnell in the 12th minute and the ahoghill youngster finished to the net from close range.
However minutes later Ryan McGill cut in along the end line to goal for Maghera to give his side back the lead. Their lead was short-lived however as McDonnell and O’Boyle pointed for St Louis and a couple of minutes later O’Boyle hammered home St. Louis second goal.
Maghera closed the gap just before the break with two points from Shea Cassidy, one from play and the other a 65 and they looked well in contention at this stage despite trailing by two.
Early in the second half Jamie Duggan narrowed the gap with a skilful point and Cassidy from two frees swopped points with Colla McDonnell and Ronan McCollam and it still looked anybody’s game.
There was a lot of pressure from Maghera during this period, but the St. Louis defence stood strong with McCartney and McCloskey superb and they managed to break for Shane O’Boyle to score his second goal after 48 minutes to put them in a strong position.
PJ McAleese responded with a point from play but that was as close as Maghera got and Rory McCloskey wrapped it up for the Ballymena side from the penalty spot after O’Boyle was hauled back as he bore down on goal. The mid-Antrim side iced the cake a couple of minutes from time when they broke from defence again and Shane O’Boyle completed his hat-trick.
St Louis will now play St Mary’s CBGS Belfast in the semi-final next Thursday afternoon, while the north Antrim derby between Cross and Passion Ballycastle and St Killian’s Garron Tower will be on Tuesday. The final is scheduled for Friday 22nd at the Dub.
St Louis : P Doherty, L Mulholland, D McMullan, R McCartney, F Henry, R McCloskey 1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free, R McKillop, C Dickson, E McFerran, R McQuillan, P Dougan, C Scullion, R McCollum 0-1, S O’Boyle 3-2, C McDonnell 1-1.
St Patrick’s : C Henry, D McGilligan, T O’Neill, C O’Kane, J McGurk, PJ McAleese 0-1, S Mckenna, J Friel, J Duggan 0-1, Shea Cassidy 0-5, 0-3 frees, R McGill 1-1, R McPeake 0-1, S Madden.
Referee : Owen Elliott (All Saints)
