St Clare Cup semi-final:
St Patrick’s Maghera 4-22 St Louis Ballymena 1-2
THERE will be a repeat of last year’s south Derry derby St Clare Cup final in a couple of weeks after St Patrick’s Maghera powered past St Louis Ballymena in the second semi-final on Friday. Holders St Mary’s Magherafelt had an equally resounding semi-final win over Cross & Passion Ballycastle on Tuesday.
Maghera’s biggest problem in the first half in Portglenone was St Louis Ballymena goalie Córa McClean who was in top-class form. Although Maghera dominated the opening half, they couldn’t get past McClean for goals and led by 0-11 to 1-1 at the turnover.
Five of the six Maghera forwards recorded points over the opening 11 minutes as they opened up a seven points lead. St Louis didn’t build a proper attack until the 14th minute – but it paid off. Midfielders Amber Anderson and Niamh Morgan combined to find Rose McVeigh unmarked and she hit the Maghera net. Within a minute Morgan pointed a 45 and the gap was down to two points.
Maghera’s progress was stalled and St Louis tried to push on. The Derry side still had most of the play but goalie McClean and inaccurate shooting kept them scoreless for nearly 15 minutes before Rose Quinn pointed a free and Hollie McErlean, Quinn and Bláthnaid McElhinney stretched the lead to six before the break.
McElhinney eventually found the net at the start of the second half and further goals followed for her twin sister Róisín, sub Erin McCann and top-scorer Rose Quinn with just a single point from St Louis in reply from Kilrea midfielder Niamh Morgan.
St Patrick’s: N McCullagh, A Lee, T Cartin, A McFerran, O Bradley 0-1, N Duggan, O McKenna, E Scullion 0-1, S McCullagh, C McCloskey 0-1, B McElhinney 1-4, R Quinn 1-7, 0-2 frees, H McErlean 0-1, A Faulkner 0-1, R McElhinney 1-1.
Subs used: E McCann 1-2, F McMullan 0-2, N Lagan 0-1, K McGrath, A Bradley
St Louis: C McClean, O McFaul, A McGilligan, C O’Boyle, A Kelly, A Convery, M Kelly, A Anderson, N Morgan 0-2, 0-1 free, E Blaney, E McCann, R McVeigh 1-0, A McCart, C Maguire, H Watson.
Subs used: N O’Mullan, K McLernon, L Cunning, O Czubinska.