Conroy penalty takes MacRory semi-final to replay

Danske Bank MacRory Cup semi-final

Omagh CBS 0-12 St Patrick’s Armagh 2-6

From Kevin Kelly in Dunmoyle

Michael Conroy held his nerve to convert a penalty with the last kick of the game deep into injury time to send a dramatic Danske Bank MacRory Cup semi-final to a replay at the Athletic Grounds this Wednesday evening.

MacCormack Cup champions Omagh CBS looked as if they had done enough at Dunmoyle on Saturday afternoon to secure their place in the decider but Armagh refused to accept defeat.

In the last play of the game Conroy sent in a line ball from the right wing which was won by Michael McGleenan but as he attempted to get his shot away it was foot blocked by Eoin Montgomery and referee Paul Falloon immediately pointed to the spot.

Omagh will look back in frustration on a game that they will feel that they should have won as they kicked 11 wides over the course of the 60 minutes while Armagh’s first goal in the 27th minute from Dillon Horsfield shouldn’t have counted as Conor Toner bounced the ball twice in the build up to it.

That score was a massive boost to an Armagh side who had trailed 0-4 to 0-1 at the time with Simon Garrity (2), Liam Gray and Sean McDonagh on target for the Tyrone lads after Justin Kieran had opened the scoring.

A Daniel Fullerton free gave Omagh a slight interval advantage but that was soon cancelled out on the restart with a point from Oisin Hughes. Gray and Conroy exchanged points from frees before Omagh took control.

Aodhan McConnell split the posts from distance before Garrity took another well worked score and when Gray made no mistake from another placed ball the gap was three points.

Substitute Ruairi McDonald got a much need score for St Patrick’s Armagh but in the next attack Gray responded with a brilliant effort from long range. McConnell then left four between the sides with six minutes to go and it looked as though Omagh had done enough.

They had chances to really put the game beyond the reach of their opponents but they failed to take them and it came back to haunt them. Conroy for once escaped the attentions of Anton Fox to point from play but as the game slipped into injury time it looked as though it wasn’t going to be enough.

Conroy though displayed nerves of steel to expertly tuck that late penalty into the bottom right hand corner of the net past Oran Grimes and the two sides must meet again to see who plays Enniskillen in the decider.

Omagh CBS: O Grimes, C McBride, A Fox, R Hollywood, T Donaghy, L McBride, S Garrity (0-3), R Kennedy, L Gray (0-4, 0-3 frees), E Montgomery, D Fullerton (0-2, 0-1 free), A Montgomery, S McDonagh (0-1), M Hayes, A McConnell (0-2).
Subs: B Conway for McDonagh, R Donnelly for Gray

St Patrick’s Armagh: J Gibney, O Conaty, O McKeagney, A Harney, S Quigley, C Toner, N Boyle, M McGleenan, C Lavery, D Horsfield (1-0), M Conroy (1-3, 0-2 frees, 1-0 pen), T Weir, O Hughes (0-1), J Kieran (0-1), L Coulter.
Subs: L Camara for Coulter, R McDonald (0-1) for Lavery, R Bradley for Boyle

Referee: P Faloon, Down