Danske Bank MacNamee Cup final
Cross & Passion Ballycastle 2-10 St Patrick’s Maghera 3-1
Cross & Passion College Ballycastle survived a scare from a hard working St Pat’s Maghera side before clinching the McNamee Cup at Slemish Park, Ballymena on Friday afternoon.When man of the match John Og Darragh hit three points in the first five minutes and his cousin Killian Cassidy added another, the Ballycastle school appeared to be in command, and when Darragh grabbed the first goal of the game it looked even more conclusive. However when Patrick O’Loughlin got a goal back for the Maghera boys it gave them a bit of belief. Darragh sent over two long range points to steady the CPC ship, but when a long delivery by Harry McCloskey ended in the CPC net it was suddenly game on again. When a long range delivery by CPC dropped in around the goals and almighty scramble ensued, and Pearse McMullan and Darragh McShane were in like a flash to scramble the ball over the line, but turning to play against the breeze in the second period it appeared the ‘Convent’ still had work to do.
Darragh came close to adding to his tally in the first minute of the second half but St Pat’s managed to keep them at bay, and when the team captain received his second yellow card soon afterwards the Co Derry school must have felt they were well back in contention.
However the rest of the CPC team responded well and they harried and hassled to keep their opponents from scoring.
With time almost up St Pat’s full forward Mulholland broke through to score a fantastic solo goal, but Cross & Passion managed to keep their opponents at bay for the rest of the game to seal the win.
Cross & Passion: J óg Darragh 2-5, 0-3 frees, T Richmond 0-3 frees, K Cassidy and P McMullan 0-1 each.
St Patrick’s: P O’Loughlin 1-1, H McCloskey (free) and A Mulholland 1-0 each.
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