Holders out of MacLarnon
Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup quarter-final
Loreto College Milford 1-11 St Patrick’s Downpatrick 0-7
WHILE Loreto Milford won this Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup quarter-final in Garvaghey by double-scores, holders St Patrick’s Downpatrick will feel that they had no luck on Satur-day.
It could be argued that the game turned on the dismissal of Oran Cunningham in the 15th mi-nute, yet the Red High held Milford scoreless in the second quarter and were in with a great shout when they trailed by just two points and had the elements behind them for the second half.
However Ronan Connor picked up a black card in the 37th minute and during his period in the sin-bin Loreto scored two points from Johnny McGroddy and then a 44th minute goal from Bobby McGettigan.
When Connor returned, there were still 15 minutes left, but there was no way back for the holders. But then Milford, the recently crowned Irish News Cup champions, did everything that was asked of them.
They opened with Johnny McGroddy (2), Rory O’Donnell, Ciaran Moore and Manus O’Connell all shooting points in the first quarter.
The dismissal of Cunningham seemed to galvanise Downpatrick and they kept Loreto score-less until the break when it was 0-5 to 0-3.
Both Milford midfielders, Rory O’Donnell and Bobby McGettigan, landed points however in the first five minutes of the second half before the black card incident which reduced the Down side to 13 players.
McGroddy scored the resultant free and another one a few minutes later as Loreto pushed on and McGettigan then scored the crucial goal just before Ronan Connor got back into action.
By that stage the result was sealed although Tom Savage, Eoin Rooney, Aodhan Harney and Ronan Connor all went down with pride. On the day however, McGroddy, O’Donnell, McGettigan and defenders Conor Coll and Dean McBride were in the driving seat.
Loreto will find out their semi-final opponents when the draw is made after Wednesday evening’s last of the MacRory Cup quarter-finals in the Athletic Grounds in Armagh
Loreto : J Matthews, T McBride, C Coll, D McBride, E O’Donnell, M O’Connell (0-1), D Dorrian, B McGettigan (1-1), R O’Donnell (0-2), A Reid, C Moore (0-1), J McGroddy (0-5, 0-3 frees), L Donnelly, M McLaughlin, L McGrenaghan
Subs : C Black for D Dorrian, Stephen Black for L Donnelly, Shane Black (0-1) for A Reid, C McFadden for M McLaughlin
Downpatrick : P Kearney, O Gormley, A Harney, E Rooney, L Guiness, O Barlow, C Mur-ray, T McNeill (0-1), R Connor (0-4 frees), O Sherry, O Cunningham, C McElroy, T Savage (0-1), C Murray, CKinsella
Subs – J Fitzsimons (0-1) for C McElroy, S O’Hare for C Kinsella
