Ballybay CC reach O’Doherty semis after thriller

Danske Bank O’Doherty Cup quarter-final
Ballybay,CC 3-23 Dean Maguirc Carrickmore 4-16 AET

Yesterday’s thrilling Danske Bank O’Doherty Cup quarter-final in the Peace Link Park Clones went to extra-time before Ballybay Community College emerged to face Lumen Christi from Derry in next week’s semi-finals.
The Monaghan school trailed by three points close to the final whistle but Player of the Match Aaron Mulligan and Darragh Dempsey narrowed the gap with points each. Mulligan then pointed a very late free to bring the teams to extra time on a 1-17 to 3-11 score-line.
Dean Mag Uirc’s midfield pairing of Cahir Gallagher and Paddy McIlhatton had great games with Sean Coneely picking up a lot of loose ball in that area as well, but they also relied heavily on goalie Odhrán Grimes to keep their effort going.
Gallagher hit two great goals and Stephen Grogan bagged another in normal time, but Mulligan scored 1-9 and Dempsey 0-5 to keep Ballybay hanging in.
Early in extra time, Carrickmore lost Cahir Gallagher to a black card and, although second half sub Pearse Dobbs made a significant contribution, the Tyrone school were on the back foot during extra time.
Nevertheless the teams were still tied at the turnover in extra time at 2-19 to 4-13, but Pádraig Hughes’ second goal pulled Ballybay clear and they held on to book a semi-final with Lumen Christi.
Ballybay CC: S Black, D McCabe, C Counihan, A McCabe, D Johnston, S Duffy, L McKeown, S Forde, P Hughes 2-0, A Mulligan 1-11, J Wilson 0-1, J Duffy, C Monaghan, O O’Neill 0-3, D Dempsey 0-7.
Subs: E Duffy for S Duffy, P Quinn for J Duffy, S Slevin 0-1 for D Johnston, A Hamilton for A Milligan
O Grimes, P Fox, R Gumley, D Curran, R McElroy, S Grimes, M McCallin, P McIlhatton 0-3, C Gallagher 2-2, S óg McCann, R Slane 0-2, R Curran 0-1, S Grogan 1-4, C Cuddy 1-3, S Coneelly.
Subs : O McCann for M McCallin, P Dobbs 0-1 for R Curran, N McKenna for C Gallagher (bc).
Referee : Liam Kelly (Cavan)