South Antrim McDermott Cup Final
St Galls 3-08-0-06 St Pauls
Kevin Herron reports from Falls Park
St Galls lifted the South Antrim McDermott Cup for the first time since 2019 after three second half goals saw them run out 3-08-0-06 winners over St Pauls in Sunday afternoons final at the Falls Park.
It took almost ten minutes for the first score to arrive in the form of a Christopher McGrath free for St Galls and Aodh Mullan then kicked a magnificent score to double the advantage moments later.
Prior to that Niall Fallon saw his low drive whistle past the post and he was denied a further time by Lorcan Murphy in the St Pauls goal.
Joe Keating got St Pauls off the mark and halved the deficit before the sides exchanged points from the placed ball, with McGrath doubling his tally and Conor McCartan then replying at the other end.
St Galls ended the half in the ascendancy and points from Fallon and a fine angled drop over from Niall McAreavey had their side 0-05-0-02 ahead at the midway point.
The Milltown men stretched their lead within two minutes of the restart. Aodh Mullan played a direct pass with the outside of the boot that was laid off into the path of Niall Fallon to burst through and pick his spot low in the net to give St Galls a 1-05-0-02 lead. Keating almost replied with a goal at the other end, but his shot was deflected over the bar for a point.
Niall Fallon dropped over his second point of the afternoon and things got better for St Galls when they struck for the second time within ten minutes of the restart, this time Ciaran Og Mullan was on hand to sweep past Lorcan Murphy and move his side 2-07-0-03 ahead.
A converted Jarlath Mervyn free made it 1-02 without reply and with a quarter of an hour remaining it looked as though victory was beyond St Pauls reach.
Conor McCartan doubled his tally for the afternoon with a splendid point from play but with ten minutes left Jarlath Mervyn put the game beyond doubt, palming to the net after a high angled ball in on top looked to have dropped just short.
St Pauls continued to probe in the last ten minutes and found two further scores through a Conor McCartan free and Patrick Copeland’s shot which dropped over the bar.
They were consolation scores however as St Galls ran out comfortable winners in the end to claim the trophy for the first time in four years.
