St. Michael's 2-07

St. Macartan's 1-07

St. Michael's secured automatic qualification for the quarter-finals of the MacRory Cup in dramatic style at Garvaghy on Tuesday afternoon.

With time nearly up St. Michael's trailed by a point but a smash and grab finish to the game by the Fermanagh school that saw them plunder 1-01 in the final minute took them through to the last eight of the competition.

A Lorcan McStarvick point levelled up proceedings at 1-07 apiece, a result which would have seen neither side finish in the second automatic qualification spot, before substitute Gareth Deery jinked his way through the Monaghan outfit's defence before planting a shot into the bottom corner to seal a brilliant win for the Enniskillen side.

"It was a great recovery from a very poor start to the game and to comeback and win it was very pleasing," said coach Dom Corrigan, who felt that the key periods of the game came at the end of both halves. "The boys showed great character. We had an indifferent first half but bagged 1-01 in the last few minutes of the half and we then got 1-01 in the last minute of the second half. The lads kept going and kept battling and that was reflected in the end of both halves and these periods at the end of each half clinched it for us."

St. Michael's had the breeze at their backs in the first half but they struggled to take full advantage of this with St. Macartan's containing them well. McStravick, who top scored for St. Michael's on the day with 0-05, knocked over two points as the Enniskillen school moved into a 0-03 to 0-01 lead.

However, they were to suffer a big blow three minutes before half time when Padraig Finnan blasted to the net for St. Macartan's to edge them in front but St. Michael's responded perfectly to this set back with a strong conclusion to the half.

Substitute James Garrity who had only been on the field a matter of minutes, hit straight back with a goal for St. Michael's and when McStravick tagged on another point it left the Fermanagh school three points to the good at the interval, 1-04 to 1-01.

With the advantage of the wind though St. Macartan's began to eat into the St. Michael's lead and with Remy McKenna, Conor Leonard and Dean McGuigan among the scores they were quickly back in the game.

The sides then swapped points with Michael Og McGarrigle on target for St. Michael's but as the contest reached a finish it was the Farney side who had their noses in front.

McStravick though levelled the encounter before Deery swooped right at the death to steer St. Michael's into the last eight of the competition.

"This group wouldn't have got out of the league sections coming up through the school so this is a great boost for the squad and it will give them self confidence and energy moving forward. St. Macartan's are a good team, they won last year's Rannafast and reached the final this year while Monaghan football is on a high at the minute but the boys tore into the challenge and worked very hard for each other and it was great to see that hard work rewarded," said Corrigan.

However, Corrigan warns that there is still much work to do between now and quarter-finals in the New Year.

"There is a serious amount of work to be done and improvement to be made yet and the boys need to knuckle down now and take it to the next level. All we have done so far is reach our first target, which was to get automatic qualification for the quarter-finals, and we're delighted that we've achieved that. However, we've now set a new target and that is to win our quarter-final game and if we are to do that then we are going to have to work hard between now and then," he added.

Best for St. Michael's on the day were goalkeeper Odhran McBrien and defenders Rory McCaffrey, Nathan Tierney and Eoghan Curran. Midfielders Michael Og McGarrigle and Tiarnan Bogue gave them a solid platform while Lorcan McStravick, James Garrity and Shane McGullion were all lively in attack.

The draw for the quarter-final of the MacRory Cup will take place on December 12.