Danske Bank Mageean Cup Final

St Killian’s Garron Tower 0-13-1-16 Cross and Passion

Kevin Herron reports from the Dub

Padraig Martin’s 51^st minute strike took the wind out of St Killian’s second half fightback as Cross and Passion extracted revenge for defeat in the 2023 decider back in January and lifted the Danske Bank Mageean Cup for the 11^th time in their history with a 1-16-0-13 win over holders St Killian’s in Tuesday evenings re-arranged decider at the Dub.

Playing with a strong breeze in the opening half Cross and Passion dominated the early scoring with Roan McGarry opening the evenings scoring from a 65’ and Conor Donnelly doubling the lead. McGarry doubled his account from a long range free and pointed from play before Oran McCambridge opened the scoring for the holders.

Cross and Passion restored their four-point advantage through a nice Oisin McCallin point- the first of four he would claim in the opening half hour, adding another angled point midway through the half.

18-minutes in and the lead extended to six after McGarry chalked up his third placed ball of the evening.

Points were traded between Callagh Mooney and McGarry (free) and by the 22^nd minute Cross and Passion had opened up an eight-point advantage (0-10-0-02) following Oisin McCallin and Caedan Crawford adding further scores but Garron Tower ended the half stronger and clipped over three of the final four points.

Thomas McLaughlin slipped in Canice McIntosh to drop a shot over and McLaughlin then intercepted and opened up his account for the evening.

McCallin and Nicholas McLaughlin traded injury time points to close out the half as Cross and Passion held a 0-11-0-05 advantage at the interval.

An early side-line cut from Ronan Fitzgerald ensured that Cross and Passion struck first after the restart and things may have got better when Caedan Crawford bore down on goal and saw his goal-bound shot blocked by Ben Duncan and then scrambled clear in the nick of time.

Thomas McLaughlin replied from a free on the 37^th minute and a long-range point followed from Oran McCambridge as the holders cut the deficit and clawed their way back into proceedings.

A superb Calum McIlwaine point from play lifted Garron Tower’s confidence and despite Padraig Martin pointing midway through the half for the leaders, momentum was with the Tower as Thomas McLaughlin reeled off three points on the bounce, the first from play and the other two from frees.

The defining score arrived on the 51^st minute with the gap down to just two. Padraig Martin received a cut back from the by-line and rocketed a shot into the roof of the net past Ben Duncan to make it 1-13-0-11.

An instant response followed in the form of a Thomas McLaughlin point from play, but St Killian’s needed a goal in order to breathe new life into their challenge.

Their best chance came when substitute Michael Fury decided to make a break for the target and his attempt was diverted behind by Cross and Passion keeper Anthony Mullan.

Instead, the Ballycastle men finished strongly courtesy of points from goal scorer Martin, the lively Oisin McCallin and a converted Ronan McGarry free – with Oran McCambridge claiming a late consolation score.

Peter Owens final whistle was greeted by the obligatory pitch invasion from the Cross and Passion fans as they celebrated becoming Mageean Cup winners for the 11^th time and they will hope to match the success of the dethroned holders when they compete in the Paddy Buggy Cup in 2025.  

St Killian’s Garron Tower: B Duncan, C McNaughton, C Ward, C McCann, A McCambridge, C McAuley, J Scullion, A Campbell, C Mooney (0-1), C McIntosh (0-1), C McIlwaine (0-1), O McCambridge (0-3), N McLaughlin (0-1), T McLaughlin (0-6, 0-4f), C Leech. Subs: D McNaughton for N McLaughlin (45), M Fury (57), O Gillan for C Leech (60+1).

Cross and Passion: A Mullan, D Kinney, C Baudant, N McLean, R Cunning, L Glackin, A Kelly, D Donnelly, R Fitzgerald (0-1s), E Johnson, C Donnelly (0-1), P Martin(1-2), O McCallin (0-5), R McGarry (0-6, 0-5f), C Crawford (0-1). Subs: C Johnson for C Donnelly (46), A Richmond for C Crawford (57).

Referee: Peter Owens (Down)

Pic by Sean Trowlen

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Danske Bank Casement Cup final

St Patrick’s Keady 3-10 Rathmore Grammar 2-11

There was late heartbreak for Rathmore Grammar as they let a 9 point lead slip to lose to St. Patrick’s Keady in this Danske Bank Casement Cup final on Thurday night.

WHEN Aodhán O’Hanlon pointed to make it 2-11 to 1-5 in the 50th minute, the South Belfast side looked on their way to victory with Ronan Taylor in control round midfield and Christopher Robb Rathmore Grammar looked home and Christopher Robb dominant in attack.

However Charlie Lennon brought the Armagh challenge to life by forcing home a goal in the next attack and suddenly the momentum changed with Jack Loughran and James Hamilton dropping back to crowd the middle third and pick off points.

Conor Lappin’s somewhat fortuitous goal from inside his own half in the 57th minute left only a point between the teams and the wind had been taken out of the Rathmore sails with Loughran converted three late frees to deliver the knock-out blow.

Rathmore Grammar got off to the perfect start with Donncha McGurk unchallenged driving a long ball from inside his own half to the goal area at the other end and Aodhán McLaughlin reacted fastest to find the net. Within a couple of minutes Christopher Robb had added a point.

However a few fouls around their half back line gave Jack Loughran the openings to fire over three frees and get Keady off the mark.

The middle part of the half belonged to the Belfast school with the darting runs of Fionn McCann and Ronan Taylor creating problems that Robb converted into points from frees.

However Keady got a break in the 17th minute when the ball fell handily for James Hamilton to fire to the net. Between then and the break there was just one further score, from a Robb free, that saw Rathmore change ends with a lead of 1-5 to 1-3.

Rathmore started the second half brightly as they had done in the first and they struck with a number of impressive scores. Points from Ronan Taylor, Robb (three) and Aodhán McLaughlin were followed by a superb goal from Robb in the 49th minute.

Keady looked well beaten after registering just two points over the 20 minutes after half time but the Armagh College suddenly sprung to life and they scored freely to reign in the Belfast lads as they dominated the final ten minutes.

St Patrick’s: C Lennon and J Hamilton 1-1 each, C Lappin 1-0, J Loughran 0-8 frees.

Rathmore: C Robb 1-6, 0-3 frees, A McLaughlin 1-2, A O’Hanlon 0-2, R Taylor 0-1

St Patrick’s: Aaron Keenan, Ethan McEneaney, Liam Rafferty, Johnny Loughran, Shea McNaughton, Conor Lappin, Ronan Gaffney, Sean Óg McNaughton, Darragh McKee, Caoimhin Mone, Jack Loughran capt, Cayden Feeney, James Hamilton, Charlie Lennon, Tom Fox

Subs: Conor McKeever for T Fox, Darragh Burke for E McEneaney, Aaron Monaghan for Shea McNaughton.

Rathmore: Dara Boylen, ⁠Fiontan McLaughlin, ⁠Alexander Myers, ⁠James Bready, ⁠Cormac O’Hare, ⁠Donncha McGurk, ⁠Paul Dorothy, ⁠Ronan Taylor, ⁠Fionn McCann, ⁠James McElhone, ⁠Christopher Robb, ⁠Dáire King capt., ⁠Aodhan O’Hanlon, ⁠Aodhan McLaughlin, Jay Ward

Subs: Oisín McGarrity for F McLauhlin, Matthew Armstrong for F McCann

Referee: Barry Winters (Tyrone)

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ON NOVEMBER 22nd 2019 CPC PRODUCED THE GOODS IN EXTRA TIME TO SEE OFF THE CHALLENGE OF ST MARY’S AT THE DUB ARENA. IT TOOK A MAGNIFICENT STRIKE FROM A MICHAEL O’BOYLE INJURY TIME FREE TO BRING THE GAME TO EXTRA TIME, BUT THE BALLYCASTLE SCHOOL REALLY TURNED IT ON IN EXTRA TIME AS THEY OUTSOCORED ST MARY’S BY 2-08 TO 0-00 IN THE TWENTY MINUTES THAT WERE ADDED

Danske Bank Mageean Cup final (AET)

CPC Ballycastle 3-18 St Mary’s CBGS 1-10

By John McIlwaine

Cross & Passion regained the Danske Bank Mageean Cup after a five year absence when they outscored their opponents St Mary’s CBGS 2-8 to 0-0 in a bizarre twenty minutes of extra time in Friday evening’s final at the Dub Arena. After trailing for most of the normal sixty minutes and looking second best for long periods it took a magnificent strike from a Michael O’Boyle injury time free from all of 80 meters to bring the game to extra time.

After watching the close nature of normal time the big crowd of supporters at the QUB venue must surely have been expecting extra time to continue in a similar vein, but incredibly CPC took complete control and when substitutes Conor O’Mullan and Cailin O’Connor grabbed goals during a blistering six minute spell which also produced five points, there was no way back for the luckless St Mary’s side. In the end fourteen points separated the teams as the shell shocked Glen Road side failed to raise a flag. It was one of those “If I hadn’t seen that with my own eyes I would not have believed it” events.

Both teams looked nervous as the game got underway in slippery underfoot conditions. Despite a good start which saw corner forward Christy McGarry hit a fine opening point it was St Mary’s who had the better of the opening half. Gary McIlhatton brought St Mary’s level and though CPC responded well with points from Fergal McKiernan and Michael O’Boyle Dannan McKeogh and Coalan McKernan came back with two of St Mary’s to tie the scores at 3 apiece. Joe McToal picked off a neat point to edge the Ballycastle school ahead but St Mary’s hit the front when McKeogh fired a penalty to the CPC net to put his team 1-3 to 0-4 ahead.

Joe McToal reduced the gap to the minimum but St Mary’s hit back when Daire Murphy sent over a free late in the half to send his team to the dressing rooms at half time two points to the good on 1-4 to 0-5.

When St Mary’s increased their lead to three early in the second half with another pointed free from Murphy they appeared to be in a strong position but CPC responded well and points from a Michael O’Boyle free plus one from his Oisins club mate Shea McDonnell (who had just been introduced as a second half substitute) closed the gap to one. With Enda Og McGarry now operating at centre back for the Ballycastle school things began to happen for CPC and when McDonnell’s shot for goal was blocked down minutes later corner forward Rian McMullan drilled the ball low to the St Mary’s net.

Two points in arrears St Mary’s responded well and after Murphy and O’Boyle traded points Caolan Duffin cut the gap to one before the excellent St Mary’s midfielder Eoin Trainor tied up the scores with a point from play. The Belfast boys then enjoyed a spell of dominance only to be denied by a brilliant save by CPC goalkeeper Tiernan Smyth and the width of the crossbar on another occasion. However they did hit points through Caolan McKernan and Caolan Duffin to go two ahead with five minutes of normal time still to play. It was backs to the wall time for CPC but to their credit they dug deep and two well struck points from Michael O’Boyle frees, the latter a magnificent strike, brought the game to extra time.

What unfolded during the first period of extra time was truly sensational as everything fell perfectly into place for CPC. Substitutes Conor O’Mullan and Cailin O’Connor plundered the goals and with the shackles off the points flowed with ease. The gap was out to eleven by half time and after the change of ends they added three more, the final one coming at the end of bursting run by Oggie McGarry that put the seal on the victory.

CROSS AND PASSION: T Smyth; R McClean, E McGarry (0-1), R Laverty; C McGlynn, J McAllister, C McKinley; S McAuley (0-1), S Brogan; J McToal (0-2), F McKiernan (0-3), M O’Boyle (0-6, all frees); R McMullan (1-2, 0-1 free), O McGrath, C McGarry (0-1). Subs: D Devlin for S Brogan (HT), S McDonnell (0-2, 1 free)) for O McGrath (34), C O’Mullan (1-0) for J McToal (51), J McGowan for C McKinley (59), C O’Connor (1-0) for J McAllister (60)

ST MARY’S: A Mullan, O May, D Murray, D Wilson; C Boyle, C McKernan (0-2 frees), D Churchill; E Trainor (0-1), A McLean; R Murray, G McIlhatton (0-1), D Delaney; C Duffin (0-2), D Murphy (0-3 frees), D McKeogh (1-1, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free). Subs: R Crossan for D McKeogh (17), F Mervyn for A McLean (41). 

REFEREE: Colin Murray (Down)