Knock reach their first hurling final

Danske Bank Foresters’ Cup semi-final

Our Lady’s & St Patrick’s Knock 2-8 St Louis Ballymena 1-6

OUR Lady’s & St Patrick’s Knock qualified for their first ever Ulster Schools hurling final when they beat St Louis Ballymena in Thursday’s semi-final at Jordanstown. In a game played in terrible conditions (‘you wouldn’t put your wheelie bin out on a day like that”) to quote match referee Brendan Toland, the Knock side held the upper hand, and though the sides went in level at half time, Knock took charge after the break and handled conditions much better than their opponents to book a place in next Tuesday’s Foresters final against CPC.

The Down school went into an early lead with points from Ben Taggart (two) and Shane O’Connell. It was 15 minutes before Paudie Martin got St Louis off the mark with a point and, when Fintan Bradley grabbed the opening goal of the game they held the upper hand. It was short lived however and when centre back Ben Teggart crashed a 20 metre free to the net they were back on top, though St did pull back to level at the break and the teams turned around level on 1-3 apiece.

Knock broke for the finish line during the third quarter with two more points from Teggart and a goal from full forward Frank Kane increasing their lead to 2-6 to 1-3.

St Louis were treading water but midfielder Paudie Martin pulled back a couple of scores, but it was took little, too late, as late points from Liam Blaney and Rónán Donnelly sealed victory for Knock.