Masita All-Ireland Paddy Buggy Cup semi-final
St Raphael’s Loughrea 3-15 St Patrick’s Maghera 2-7
ULSTER representatives St Patrick’s Maghera put up a spirited performance in Abbottstown on Saturday in the Masita All-Ireland Paddy Buggy Cup semi-final but, as in the Danske Bank Mageean Cup final in November, a couple of simple errors cost them dear.
Fintan Bradley as usual dominated the Maghera scoring, and there were good efforts from PJ McAleese and Eoghan Mac Oscair in defence and Seamus McKenna around the middle, but in general the Galway school were that little bit sharper in everything they did.
Loughrea were first off the mark with a point from Sean Connaghton and Bradley matched him from a free a few minutes later. But Loughrea then stepped on the gas with four points in a row and a long ball in from a Tiernan Killeen free made its way into the Maghera net.
However the Ulster side raised their challenge in the ten minutes before half time; Bradley and McHugh points were followed by Michael McCormack being hauled to ground for a penalty. Bradley caught it perfectly to bring the gap down to three points.
Loughrea however responded with a couple before the break and were still in control at 1-9 to 1-4 at the turn.
Points from Daniel McCartney and Michael McCormack and another excellent Bradley free cut the margin to two on the re-start, but the Connacht side then got another break, a penalty that Sean Connaghton despatched.
There was no stopping them from then on, although Fintan Bradley narrowed the gap on 52 minutes with a first time pull on the edge of the area. But midfielder Ciaran Connaghton replied with a goal in the next attack and they pushed home their advantage with the last three points.
St Raphael’s : C Warde, S Morgan, A Nolan, D Moran, R Keleghan, E Cox, K Dervan, C Connaghton (1-0), A Connaire (0-3), S Connaghton (1-8, 1-0 pen, 0-6 frees), C Slattery (0-1), T Killeen (1-1), M O’Reagan (0-1), A Fahy, D Shaughnessy (0-1)
St Patrick’s : C McElhinney, O Downey, E Mac Oscair, B Walsh, J Mellon, PJ McAleese, D Simpson, T McHugh (0-1), S McKenna, S Cassidy, M McCormick (0-1), R McPeake, R McGill, D McCartney (0-1), F Bradley (2-4, 1-0 pen, 0-2 frees)
