Danske Bank Kirk Cup Hurling Final
St Malachy’s Belfast 2-16 Rathmore Grammar 1-10
ST Malachy’s College have retained the Danske Bank Kirk Cup final, seeing off Rathmore Grammar in the Belfast derby yesterday evening in Woodlands.
Harry Feeney’s goal in the 22nd minute was the key that opened the door for the Antrim Road school and they led by 1-6 to 0-5 at the break.
All five Rathmore points in the opening half came from midfielder Aodhán O’Hanlon and he ended up his team’s only scorer over the hour. The Gort na Móna player’s goal at the start of the second half briefly brought the gap down to a point.
However St Malachy’s free-taker Cillian Carabine replied almost immediately with a green flag to maintain that half-time gap and that was how it remained until close to the end when points, from Carabine, Aidan Johnston, Ethan Connolly and Conor Stewart left the final score-line a little flattering for the north Belfast school.
Apart from Carabine with a goal and eight points, others to shine for St Malachy’s were Harry Feeney, Ollie Gregory, Aodhán McNally and Connolly while Ronan Leonard, Zak Kerr-Woodrow in defence, Liam Carson in midfield and Ronan Downey in half forward provided best support for Aodhán O’Hanlon in the Rathmore colours.
St Malachy’s: C Carabine 1-8 (0-7fs), H Feeney 1-4, C Stewart 0-2, A Johnston and E Connolly 0-1 each
Rathmore: A O’Hanlon 1-10 (0-5fs)