St. Mary’s prevail in thrilling Rafferty Cup opener

Danske Bank Rafferty Cup, Section A Round 1

Sacred Heart, Omagh 4-16-5-14 St. Mary’s CBGS

Kevin Herron reports from the Mid Ulster Sports Arena

St. Mary’s Year 12s kickstarted their Danske Bank Rafferty Cup campaign with a hard fought 5-14-4-16 win over Sacred Heart, Omagh in a thrilling encounter at the Mid Ulster Sports Arena on Thursday afternoon.

The Belfast side registered the opening score when Padraig Kelly swung over a point, but the opening goal fell to Sacred Heart after Charlie Byrne picked out Oran McMenamin and he in turn slipped a pass to Ronan Colton to shoot low past Aidan Holbrook.

Points followed from Oran Gallagher and Charlie Byrne as Sacred Heart extended their lead, in reply Kelly doubled his account and then landed a two-pointer after Cristoir McCabe claimed a mark and offloaded into his direction.

The second goal of the day went St. Mary’s way , Cory Rea won back possession in his own half and set the wheels in motion and the move ended with Sean McMullan popping the ball across the face of goal where Jude Burns palmed home at the backpost to make it 1-4-1-2.

Charlie Byrne squeezed over his second point to half the deficit, but they fell further behind when Sean McMullan was fouled and Padraig Kelly kicked his second two-pointer, Cristoir McCabe converted a close range free and Kelly added to his personal tally from play.

In the closing stages of the half James Harvey and Luke Patterson swung over scores between a Sean McMullan effort as Sacred Heart trailed 1-9-1-5 at the break- though they would play with the advantage of the breeze in the second period.

St. Mary’s made an ideal start to the second period with Oisin McGuinness reacting quickly to bundle in his sides second goal.

At the other end Charlie Byrne clipped over his third of the day, though the pressure intensified on the Sacred Heart defence as Padraig Kelly floated over a further point, hard working Matthew O’Neill chipped in with his first score and after Cristoir McCabe intercepted a kick-out from Adam Conlon and slipped a pass to Darragh O’Sullivan the ball ended up in the net and St. Mary’s were 3-11-1-6 to the good.

Although seemingly poised for victory the pendulum swung in the game, St. Mary’s were denied a fourth goal by the base of the post and Sacred Heart made them pay as they worked the ball downfield and swept home their second of the afternoon.

An onslaught followed with Garbhan O’Donnell playing a one-two with Caiden Harold and adding a point, Oran McMenamin kicked a further point and then added a goal to reduce arrears to three (3-11-3-8).

A converted free from McMenamin was his third score on the spin and successive Luke Patterson points tied things up a 3-11 each with the advantage firmly with the Omagh men.

They surged clear through back-to-back Charlie Byrne points and a further from Luke Patterson had his side 3-14-3-11 up with eight minutes to play.

St. Mary’s came back to life and levelled when substitute Oliver Robb shot low past Conlon at his near post and they crept back in front through successive points from talisman Padraig Kelly.

It was a frantic conclusion that perhaps reassembled a basketball game swaying end to end. Oran McMenamin’s point halved the deficit and a Charlie Byrne goal in the aftermath had his side 4-15-4-13 ahead.

The late drama wasn’t finished as St. Mary’s replied with their final goal of the day, substitute Anton Corr did well to win possession and lay off to Gerard Delaney who sent a ball down the channel for Cristoir McCabe to run onto, McCabe got into a shooting position before rifling high to the net to give the Glen Road outfit the slenderest of advantages (5-13-4-15).

Oisin Connelly shot over and looked to have earned his side a point, though there was still time for St. Mary’s to push for a winner that came through McCabe, sweeping over from close range to conclude the afternoons scoring in the Mid Ulster Sports Arena.