Maghera have to fight for MacRory draw with Cavan

St Patrick’s Maghera 2-11 St Patrick’s Cavan 3-8
EUNAN Mulholland rescued a point for St Patrick’s Maghera in their opening Danske Bank MacRory Cup tie in Armagh yesterday as the Derry side came from three points down with 59 minutes on the clock.
When excellent Cavan goalie Lorcan Hammond saved point blank from PJ McAleese in the 59th minute, it looked as if he had secured both points for his team. But Enda Downey hit back with two points, one a free, and teed up Mulholland to fire over the equaliser from 20 metres deep into injury-time.
Cavan were a much improved team from the one that lost their opening game to Holy Trinity Cookstown a fortnight ago and Paul McCabe, Oisin Brady, Eoin Clarke and Emmett Boylan were just some of the players who carried the game to Maghera.
Boylan scored the first goal after six minutes. Midfielder Conleth McShane replied with a three-pointer for Maghera four minutes later, but Jack Treanor again put his team in front at the quarter-hour mark with a well-executed goal.
Maghera however had the teams back on level terms with a goal from Conleth McGuckin and they were still locked at 2-5 each on the half-time whistle.
Ten minutes into the second half Emmet Boylan scored his second, and Cavan’s third goal, to open a slight gap that his team maintained throughout the second half despite the promptings of Eunan Mulholland who scored three times during the second period, his last in injury time making the real difference.
It was Maghera’s first outing and they will probably be happy enough to get away with a share of the spoils, given that they were made look rusty enough at times. They will look to step up a gear for their second game on Sunday in Castledawson (2.30pm) against Holy Trinity Cookstown.
Meanwhile the improved performance and the draw could set Cavan up nicely for their final game this Friday against St Macartan’s Monaghan.
Cavan : Emmett Boylan 2-2, 0-1 free, Jack Treanor 1-0, Eoin Clarke 0-3, 0-1 free, Oisin Brady 0-2, Darryl McGurn 0-1.
Maghera : Conleth McGuckin 1-2, Conleth McShane 1-0, Eunan Mulholland 0-3, Enda Downey 0-3, 0-2 frees, Daithi McLaughlin 0-1, Eoghan Hawe 0-1, Fintan Bradley 0-1.