Donnelly stars in Keady’s Kirk Cup win
Danske Bank Kirk Cup final
St Patrick’s Keady 3-17 St Columban’s Portaferry 1-10
Captain Fionntan Donnelly was the star man as St Patrick’s Keady won yesterday evening’s Danske Bank Kirk Cup final in Woodlands.
Donnelly opened and closed the scoring with points from frees on his way to a personal tally of 1-10, his goal in the 14th minute putting daylight between the teams for the first time.
St Columban’s Portaferry were still well in the game around the three-quarter mark trailing by 1-11 to 1-9, but they were always chasing the south Armagh side after that early goal.
Keady had the better start with the first three points, including two 65s from Donnelly, but Portaferry’s two best players on the night, Ronan Blair and Phelim Savage, hit back with points before Donnelly’s goal.
Although Fionntan Donnelly (3), Nathan Hunt and Ciaran Donnelly fired over points during the second quarter, Francis Caldwell closed the sides to a gap of 1-8 to 1-6 with a goal just before the break.
On the re-start Caolan Coulter and Ronan Blair (2), responded to points from Hunt, Donnelly and Lewis Hughes, before Donnelly added a point and Sean óg McGuiness crashed home a 48th minute goal to open a 2-12 to 1-9 gap.
Donnelly again tagged on a free and then Shea McNaughton was on hand to claim a third goal for Keady and the game was up for Portaferry.
St Patrick’s Keady : S McGuigan, O Burke, D Murphy, O Doyle, C Gray, D Harnett, M Lennon, M Nugent, S McNaughton 1-0, N Hunt 0-3, F Donnelly capt. 1-10, 0-9 frees, S óg McGuinness 1-1, 0-1 free, M Rafferty, C Renaghan, C Donnelly 0-2
Subs: L Hughes 0-1 for M Nugent, E McArdle for C Donnelly, S Monaghan for C Gray, O Murphy for M Rafferty, T O’Hagan, P Rafferty
St Columban’s : C Lavery, D McVeigh, C Caldwell, T Smyth, R Convery, R McGovern, M Toner, P Savage 0-3, C Coulter 0-2, L Boyd, O Young, K Eccles, D Mallon, R Blair capt. 1-3, F Caldwell 1-2.
Referee : Fionntan Mac Coitir
