Goals galore for Holy Trinity in MacLarnon semi
Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup semi-final
Holy Trinity Cookstown 5-7 OL&SP Knock 0-7
From Kevin Kelly in Lurgan for Irish News
Goals win games as they say and that was certainly the case at the St Paul’s club in Lurgan yesterday afternoon as Holy Trinity Cookstown qualified for the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup final at the expense of Our Lady’s and St Patrick’s Knock.
There is no doubt that the fifteen point winning margin flattered Holy Trinity as Knock enjoyed as much possession as their opponents but crucially they weren’t as clinical.
Knock controlled the opening quarter but a 0-2 to 0-1 lead was scant reward for their endeavours, Niall Grimley and Liam O’Keefe their point scorers. Then in the 16th minute a speculative shot from Holy Trinity full forward Tiernan Mackle sailed all the way to the net and they never looked back.
Mark Devlin and Tiarnan Quinn tagged on points before Shane Murphy coolly slotted home a penalty after Mackle had been fouled.
Kyran Robinson and Grimley both traded points as the winners led 2-4 to 0-3 at the break, Oran Mulgrew unlucky not to add a third goal when his low drive struck the left hand post.
Wing half-back Caolan Cunningham opened the second half scoring for Knock and in the 34th minute they were unlucky not to get a goal when Matt McAreavy’s well struck shot narrowly missed the top left hand corner of the net.
Two minutes later and Holy Trinity had a tight grip on proceedings when centre half back Conor Donnelly fired to the net. Devlin kicked a point and Mackle punched one over as Holy Trinity began to turn the screw.
In the 41st minute Mackle found Eunan Devlin inside the box and as the centre half forward tried to get his shot away he was fouled and Paul Faloon immediately pointed to the spot, Murphy once again making no mistake with his finish past keeper Sean McCaffrey.
It was all Holy Trinity at this stage and moments later substitute Thomas Mackle smashed an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net. McAreavy had Knock’s last point of the game but it was Cookstown’s day with Devlin completing the scoring.
Holy Trinity will now play St Eunan’s Letterkenny in the decider on March 19th in what should be a cracking encounter at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh.
Holy Trinity Cookstown: C Loane, D Canavan, T Quinn, T McNamee, O Mulgrew, C Donnelly (1-0), M McKearney, E Gallagher, P Lagan, K Robinson (0-1), E Devlin, S Murphy (2-1), T Quinn (0-1), Tiernan Mackle (1-1), M Devlin (0-3).
Subs: A Moore for Devlin, C Quinn for Robinson, C McGarrity for Murphy, Thomas Mackle (1-0) for Lagan, S Bradley for Gallagher, T Dorris for Mackle
OL&SP Knock: S McCaffrey, P Doherty, E Kelly, J Morgan, L Toal, J Toner, C Cunningham (0-2), P King, J McKee, N Grimley (0-2), R Tweedy (0-1), L O’Keefe (0-1), J Blaney, T Dunford, M McAreavy (0-1).
Subs: C Webb for McKee, A O’Keefe for Grimley, E McNicholl for Dunford, D Strong for Toal, C McLarnon for Doherty, T Campbell for McCaffrey
Referee: P Faloon, Down
