Hughes seals Casement Cup win for Knock
Danske Bank Casement Cup final:
Our Lady’s & St Patrick’s Knock 1-11 St Patrick’s Armagh 1-6
THE accuracy of Sean Hughes from frees during the second half was crucial to Our Lady’s & St Patrick’s Knock’s success in last night’s Danske Bank Casement Cup final played at the Dub Arena.
The Bredagh player scored all but one of Knock’s seven second half points and all of those came from placed balls, while at the other end Daragh Kelly, Ciaran McMullan and the rest of the defence kept St Patrick’s Armagh to a single score during the same period.
Lee Murtagh opened the evening with a point for Armagh but, after Eoin Pucci had levelled, Finn Collins hit the net for Knock and the Belfast side held a two or three points’ advantage through to a minute before the break when Dillon Fox kicked an Armagh goal that gave them a lead of 1-5 to 1-4 at the change of ends.
Fox was a handful for the Knock defence through the half with Murtagh accurate from play and frees and Fionntan Oliver and Oisin Curran others to shine in defence.
Indeed Armagh might have been further ahead had not Jarlath McCollum brought off a fine save in the 24th minute.
However Knock’s defence got on top for the second half and with Hughes punishing every indiscretion at the other end they edged ahead on the score-board.
Jake Toal kept Armagh in the hunt with an excellent double save midway through the second half, but his forwards did not trouble the score-keeper until Lee Murtagh fired over a free two minutes from time to make it 1-10 to 1-6.
Fittingly though Sean Hughes completed the scoring with a late free, his seventh point of the night and Knock will now prepare for an All-Ireland semi-final in late February.
Knock : J McCollum, N Murtagh, D Kelly, O O’Connor, E Pucci (0-1), C McMullan (0-1), R Corcoran, F Collins (1-0), L Hogan, E Bell, M Lavery, J Clarke (0-2, 0-1 free), O McDermott, S Hughes (0-7, 0-6 frees), J McDonnell.
Armagh J Toal, D McGahan, A Murtagh, O Curran, F Moore, C McReynolds, C McCooey, F Oliver, A Harney, F Grew, D Fox (1-1), R Stevens, R Davidson, L Murtagh (0-5, 0-3 frees), C Mullin.
