Claudy win Pat King Cup

Danske Bank Pat King Cup final
St Patrick’s & St Brigid’s, Claudy 1-11 St Colm’s, Draperstown 0-4
WHEN these teams met in the group stages early last month, St Patrick’s and St Brigid’s Claudy lost by 4-12 to 1-12 in an open game of football. Yesterday they were crowned Danske Bank Pat King Cup champions in Owenbeg because they learned from their mistakes the last day and were able to control the direction of play a lot better.
That was probably most evident during the opening 30 minutes when they had to face into the breeze, were dominated in terms of possession for periods at the start and in the middle of the half, yet turned over at the break with a 1-5 to 0-4 lead.
Caoimhin McGavigan’s goal after six minutes had a lot to do with Claudy’s confidence. It came after St Colm’s Draperstown had five minutes of constant pressure, but took poor shot options or indeed blasted wide from good build ups.
McGavigan’s goal lifted the siege and Claudy enjoyed a period of ascendancy, although St Colm’s, helped by three points from Jack Conway, including two frees, came back to make it 1-2 to 0-4 after 20 minutes.
However soon after Niall McGonagle landed two frees for Claudy – one from either wing – to open a 1-4 to 0-4 lead while at the other end goalkeeper Ethan McLaughlin dived full length to deny Conan Bradley.
St Colm’s carved out a second goal chance soon after the break with Marc Wilson in the clear but McLaughlin again made the save and Claudy pushed on with captain Jack Boyce a dominant force at midfield and Niall McCloskey and Brendan Byrne blotting out the threat of Jack Conway, who had landed 2-7 in the semi-final.
Tiernan Feeney was also a dominant big player in the Claudy attack and as a result his side was able to push on and score six times after the break as their defence held St Colm’s scoreless.
At the close the Danske Bank Pat King Cup was presented to Player of the Match Jack Boyce by the former Tyrone player’s grandsons Patrick and Ruairí King.
Claudy : E McLaughlin, M Gallagher, N McCloskey, Conor Donaghy, F Gormley (0-1), B Byrne, J McElhinney, J Boyce, A Murphy (0-3), C McGavigan (1-1), T Feeney (0-2), J Kelly (0-1), S Watson, N McGonagle (0-3, 0-2 frees), T O’Connor
Subs used: A O’Doherty, K Hasson, Cainan Donaghy, C McGlinchey, S O’Donnell
St Colm’s : R McGuigan, C Fullerton, M McGeehan, A McBride, E McAuley, J Glass, J McKenna, M Wilson, E Donnelly, J McBride, J Conway (0-3, 0-2 frees), V Mura, R McElhennon, C Bradley (0-1), R McCullagh.
Referee : Greg McGroary (Four Masters, Donegal)