St Ronan’s reach MacRory semi after tense finish in ‘Blayney

Danske Bank MacRory Cup quarter-final
St Ronan’s Lurgan 0-14 Patrician Carrickmacross 1-10
Last night’s exciting Danske Bank MacRory Cup quarter-final in Castleblayney went right to the wire with St Ronan’s Lurgan breathing a sigh of relief when Sean Burns’ last kick of the match was pulled slightly wide of the posts.
St Ronan’s won this match by building up substantial leads in the first and third quarters. Patrician pulled the early advantage in with a Barry Kieran point on the re-start to make it 0-7 each, but the Lurgan side tagged on the next six points without reply and Carrick’s response came a little too late to save them.
This was a good game, played a high tempo throughout with Eoin McConville the key player particularly during the third quarter when he hit four of the six points to take his side clear. The St Paul’s clubman then held his nerve with a 54th minute free in response to the Carrick goal.
St Ronan’s made an impressive start to the game going into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead with some top class points all from 35m or further afield; Jack Lenehan, Oisin Smyth and Eoin McConville hitting the target with ease.
But Patrician came back with two points each from Andrew Woods and Liam óg Murray and were only 0-6 to 0-7 behind at the turnover. Barry Kieran’s point at the start of the second half levelled – but he snapped at the shot when a goal was a strong possibility.
Lurgan responded with some huge points from the McConvilles and Oisin Smyth to pull clear at 0-13 to 0-7 by the 42nd minute.
Again Carrickmacross fought back; Andrew Woods started them again from a free and, when Sean Burns took a 46th minute pass from Jordan Morris to find the bottom corner of the Lurgan net, the game was set up for a tense finish.
Both teams worked hard in possession during the last quarter of an hour and McConville’s pointed free was badly needed as a Woods’ free and an injury time point from Seamus Kindlon closed the gap to a point.
But Lurgan are back in the semi-finals for a third successive year and looking forward to Monday’s draw.
St Ronan’s: L Mulholland, E McCluskey, A Mulholland, J Haddock, A McCreanor, J Lamont, J Haughey, J Lenehan 0-1, T Kelly 0-1 free, O Smyth 0-2, E McConville 0-7, 0-5 frees, R Meehan 0-2, R McConville 0-1, L Monteiro, J Megoran.
Subs: A Loughran for J Megoran (41), M McAfee for L Monteiro (57), C Magee for R McConville (63).
Patrician: R Farrelly, F O’Callaghan, S Kindlon 0-1, C Hanratty, T McCourt, K Slavin, C McKeown, N Marron, K Curtis, S Burns 1-0, A Woods 0-5, 0-4 frees, C McNulty, B Kieran 0-2, J Morris, L óg Murray 0-2.
Subs : J McGarrell for K Curtis (40), J McMahon for B Kieran (42), D Swinburne for C McNulty (50).
Referee : Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone)

Picture thanks to Glenn Murphy Photography (@PhotoMurp)