Danske Bank McLarnon Cup, Group C
St. Mary’s CBGS 0-10-0-09 St Malachy’s
From Kevin Herron
Pics by Bert Trowlen
St. Mary’s CBGS topped Group C of the Danske Bank McLarnon Cup with a hard fought 0-10-0-09 win over St Malachy’s in the final group game at the Dub on Friday afternoon,
Going into the last round of fixtures, all teams were deadlocked on two-points after St. Mary’s defeated Leacle Trinity and St. Malachy;s accounted for Our Lady and St Patrick’s College Knock on MatchDay 2.
Leacle and Knock met on Thursday evening with the Downpatrick side running out 1-15-1-07 winners to take top spot and pole position for a passage straight into the quarter-final unless St. Mary’s could defeat their Belfast neighbours and top the group on head-to-head.
The Glen Road side played with a strong breeze in the opening half and were ahead within five minutes as Sean Og McLaren shot over a two-pointed score to get his side up and running.
Odhran McAuley then kicked a free in the aftermath before Aaron Rafferty carried the ball forward and superbly guided an angled shot inside the near post to reduce arrears after 10-minutes (0-3-0-1).
Further scores were traded as Sean Og McLaren laid the ball off for Fintan McKinney to pop over and in response Cathair McKenna offloaded to Cormac Trainor to kick a fine point midway through the half.
Back-to-back converted frees extended St. Mary’s lead, the first a straight forward effort from in front of the posts from Matthew Murray, but two minutes later he himself was fouled on the edge of the arc and he notched his sides second two-pointed score of the half.
Their scoring for the half was complete by the 27th minute with another two scores arriving before the interval.
Odhran McAuley swivelled and kicked a magnificent angled point and then Cormac McCann added another a few minutes later as their side had hit four unanswered.
Just prior to the break Aaron Rafferty swung over a free to narrowly reduce the deficit at the break, as St. Mary’s held a 0-9-0-3 advantage at halfway.
St. Malachy;s made the perfect start to the second period with a two-pointed score. Thomas Mooney popped the ball out to Cormac Trainor to swing over a fine point from outside of the arc and reduce arrears by a third.
Aaron Rafferty was then in a great position to capitalise and take possession after a slip from a St. Mary’s player coming out of defence and Rafferty shot over to half the interval deficit.
St. Mary’s only second half score came after Fintan McKinney was fouled as he went to shoot and Matthew Murray clipped over the resulting free in the 37th minute.
Midway through the second period St. Malachy;s fightback gathered further pace when Michael Jennings dropped an angled shot over to make it 0-10-0-7.
In the final ten minutes Cathair McKenna kicked two close range frees that reduced the deficit to the bare minimum but St. Mary’s closed the game out, playing the possession game effectively to secure the win that saw them top the group and head straight for the Quarter-finals in the New Year.
St. Malachy’s will meanwhile occupy third spot in the Group and face a play-off tie with the team that finishes third in Group A for a place in the last eight.
