Lumen Christi & De La Salle Downpatrick reach Ward Cup final

Danske Bank Ward Cup semi-final

De La Salle Downpatrick 4-14 Coláiste Oiriall Monaghan 2-6

Building on their Danske Bank Faul Cup success last season, De La Salle Downpatrick have reached a senior schools’ final, the Danske Bank Ward Cup decider, for the first time with a comfortable 4-14 to 2-6 win over Coláiste Oiriall Monaghan in Armagh.

Star of the performance was Taylor Louden who is currently on the Down under 21 panel and preparing for next week’s Ulster quarter-finals.

The RGU club player scored a goal in the first half and slotted home a second half penalty in a good all round effort that accumulated 2-4 for him.

His goal and one from James Mahoney helped De La Salle to a 2-7 to 1-3 interval lead, Ógie Ó Dufaigh pulling a goal back for Coláiste Oiriall.

The Monaghan Gaeilgeoirí made no significant inroads into the Downpatrick lead during the course of the second half, despite a second goal for Ó Dufaigh and good play from Aodhán Ó Broin, Conor Ó Dúill agus Leon Mac Cába.

Louden’s penalty pushed De La Salle further ahead and Declan Burns provided the icing on the cake with their fourth goal in the last minute.

De La Salle : Taylor Louden 2-4, James Mahone 1-3, Declan Burns 1-0, Colin Lecky 0-3, Nathan McShane 0-2, Cory McCoubrey 0-2.

Coláiste Oiriall :Ógie Ó Dufaigh 2-0, Leon Mac Cába 0-3, Shane Mac Cionnaith 0-1, Aodhán Ó Broin 0-1, Conor Ó Dúill 0-1.

Danske Bank Ward Cup semi-final

Lumen Christi Derry 3-16 St Mogue’s Bawnboy 1-10

The strong breeze in Garvaghey very much dictated the outcome of this Danske Bank Nolan Cup yesterday with Derry’s Lumen Christi coming through to set up a final next week with De La Salle Downpatrick.

De La Salle had first use of the elements and set a very difficult target for St Mogue’s, leading by 3-10 to 0-3 at break.

As long as they held out at the back and were able to break for the occasional score, they were always going to come through against a team that was now committed to attack.

Early in the opening half, Michael Philson got a goal to settle the Derry side and he added a second major along with one from Ben McCarron.

The Cavan team were on the back foot for the duration of the half and Ciarán King, Jason Doonan, Kevin McGovern worked very hard to stem the tide of Derry scores. At the other end they were only able to add points from Sean Martin Fitzpatrick (2) and Jack Kelly.

During the second half they were the dominant team, but needed more than the single goal that Kelly took. Unfortunately they hit the woodwork on three different occasions, while Naoise Ó Mianáin, Matthew Martin and Diarmuid Baker rose to the challenge in defence for Lumen Christi.

McCarron and Niall Moore tagged on points at various stages to keep the score-board ticking for the Derry side.

Meanwhile another Derry school, St Joseph’s, reached their first ever Ulster Schools’ Senior final by defeating St Patrick’s Ballymena 4-14 to 0-4 in the Danske Bank Nolan Cup in Owenbeg yesterday.

St Joseph’s started the game with the wind on their backs and were able to build up a significant half-time lead with Odhran McKane, Harry Curran, Rhys McGahey and Ben Gallagher all on top of their game.

St Joseph’s now play the winners from tomorrow’s (Friday) second semi-final, St Patrick’s Lisburn and St Patrick’s Bearnageeha, in next week’s final.

Lumen Christi: Michael Philson 2-2, Ben McCarron 1-6, David McGurk 0-4, Niall Moore 0-2, Diarmuid Baker 0-1, Stephen McKeever 0-1

St Mogue’s: Jack Kelly 1-3, Sean Martin Fitzpatrick 0-3, Shane Galligan 0-1, Gavin Donohoe 0-1, Nikodim McKiernan 0-1, Ryan Kelly 0-1

St Joseph’s: Tiarnan Gallagher 2-0, Kevin Brown 1-1, Rhys McGahy 1-0, Odhran McKane 0-2, Harry Curran 0-2, Ben Smyth 0-2, Kristian Deery 0-2, Oisin Burke 0-1

St Patrick’s: Ronan Ward 0-2, Kavan Keenan 0-1, David Leetch 0-1