Danske Bank Mageean Cup – Ulster Colleges Hurling

St Killian’s Garron Tower 3-12 St Patrick’s Maghera 0-10

ST Killian’s Garron Tower, got their Mageean Cup campaign off to a winning start when they beat St Pat’s Maghera in Ballymena on Thursday afternoon. The Tower side were impressive in the opening quarter of the game and two goals from full forward Brogan O’Connor and one from centre forward Joe McLaughlin had them in a commanding 3-9 to 0-4 lead by half time. However the tempo dropped notably in the second half at the sharpness of that opening quarter deserted them.

The Maghera boys upped the tempo and St Killian’s faded badly, score a mere three points in a second half in perfect conditions. Of course the lead they had built up meant they were never in any real danger of being caught, but they will know that such a display would be nowhere near good enough when it comes to the business end of the completion in a few weeks’ time.

Maghera showed a marked improvement in that second half and with Shea Walsh, Odhran McEldowney, Eoin Mulholland and Conor Diamond all showing well they outscored thier opponents by 0-6 to 0-3 in te second period. St Pat’s will know they are not out of this competition, despite losing both games in the group and whoever meets them in the quarter final will not relish the challenge.

The Tower take on Antrim rivals St Louis in last group game next Thursday, back at the same venue, where the winner will go straight to the semis, while the loser will join Maghera in the quarter final pot.

St Killian’s : B O’Connor 2-3, J McLaughlin 1-5 (0-3 fs), C McKeown 0-1, JV Morgan 0-1, Patrick McIlwaine 0-1, C Mooney 0-1

St Mary’s : S Walsh 0-3, C Downey 0-3, E Scullion 0-2 (fs), E Mulholland 0-1, O McElhinney -1