Danske Bank Leonard Cup final at Creggan
St Patrick’s Maghera 3-9 St Louis Ballymena 1-14
Pics by Bert Trowlen
Two goals by centre-forward Daithí Holleran in the final quarter of Monday’s Leonard Cup final at Creggan brought St Pat’s Maghera back from the brink and set them up for a win over St Louis in a highly entertaining game. The Ballymena school appeared to be on course to take the title when they led by seven points going into the last quarter, but Holleran turned the game on its head with goals in the 47th and 49th minutes, just as St Louis had done in their semi-final win over CPC.
St Louis held the upper hand in the first half and points from Joe Casey, Oisin O’Brien and Joe Connolly gave them a good foundation, but St Pat’s full-forward Ronan O’Loughlin hit back with a goal before adding a point to bring his team level.
St Louis reacted well to the setback and two points from Cody McGarry frees were followed by two from play by Casey who then went on to fire home his team’s goal eight minutes before half time. McGarry tacked on another point from a free and Harry Blaney added one from play to stretch his team’s lead to seven by the time referee Brendan Toland sounded the half time whistle. (1-13 to 1-06)
Although St Pat’s had much more of the play during the third quarter St Louis were able to keep them at bay and that seven point gap was still there with thirteen minutes to play. That is when Hollearan really stamped his authority on the game and after firing home in the 47th minute he added another two minutes later to change the game completely. The Lavey star brought his team level on 53 minutes and though St Louis had time to regain the upper hand they just couldn’t get back in front and St Pat’s held on to claim the silverware.
St Patrick’s: D Holleran 2-2, R O’Loughlin 1-1 (0-1f), J Ward 0-3 (fs), P O’Loughlin 0-2, J Conway 0-1 each
St Louis: J Casey 1-6 (0-1f), C McGarry 0-3 (fs), J Connolly 0-2, O O’Brien, H Blaney and L Martin 0-1 each
St Patrick’s: Shea O’Kane, Harry McCloskey, Danny Bradley, Conan Boyle, James Ward, Ryan Murphy, Harry McGilligan, Aodhán McCloskey, Sionann McCormick, Tony McErlean, Daithí Holleran, Liam McErlean, Patrick O’Loughlin, Rónán O’Loughlin, Joseph Conway.
Subs: Dara Scullin for H McGilligan (39), Ben Bradley for A McCloskey (42).
St Louis : Harry McKay, Fergus Maguire, Dylan McMullan, Harry McQuillan, Joe O’Hara, Oisín O’Brien, Eoghan McCormick, Cody McGarry, Joe Connolly, Harry Blaney, Joe Casey, Niall Duffin, Eoghan Lorcán Bradley, Lorcán Martin, Caden Doherty
Subs: Thomas McGarry for N Duffin (28), N Duffin for T McGarry (ht)
Refereee; B Toland (Lámh Dhearg)
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