Devenish College 3 Drumragh Integrated College 2 (aet)

It took a Tiernan Corr goal late into injury time to decide the winner of this year’s U-16 McKee Cup Final. A sunny Bawnacre played host to the showpiece final in the Fermanagh and Western Schools calendar, this year contested by Devenish College and Drumragh Integrated College, who both topped their groups.

The early exchanges were an evenly contested affair with both teams trying to dominate the midfield, which would prove to be a feature of the game.

As the match progressed, Devenish were moving the ball with confidence; however, the Drumragh defence was proving difficult to break down.

After 20 minutes some excellent build-up play put Jack Beatty into space, and he finished smartly to open the scoring for Devenish. A sustained period of pressure on the Omagh goal was rewarded eight minutes later when Charlie Clendinning’s shot from distance took a slight deflection, resulting in the ball gliding over the keeper’s head and into the net.

At 2-0 Devenish looked to press home the advantage with Jack Gordon and Jack Beatty coming close just before the half time break.

Drumragh started the second half with more intent and a series of attacks into the Devenish box were dealt with confidently by the centre half partnership of Rory Brown and Adam Armstrong.

Unfortunately, one such foray resulted in a head injury to the influential Adam Armstrong, who had to leave the field as a result.

With Devenish defending deeper, it invited pressure from Drumragh. A set piece with 15 minutes to go caused chaos in the box and Dylan Colgan fired his shot home to leave the score 2-1.

Rallied again

Drumragh again rallied as the clock ran down, and with seconds left to play they won a free kick in the middle of the park. Ethan Kelly’s shot crept in just under the bar to level the score and take the game to extra-time.

Both sides pushed to try and find the winner, and with tiring legs there were opportunities at both ends of the pitch, with some last-ditch defending preventing the decisive score.

With less than a minute on the clock, Devenish won a free from 35 yards out.

A skilful delivery from Rory Browne saw the ball bounce off the crossbar, and it was Tiernan Corr who reacted quickest to fire the ball home.

The final whistle was greeted with great scenes of celebration for the Devenish College team.

The medals and McKee Cup were presented by Fermanagh Schools stalwart, Dessie Gamble, who commended both teams for their efforts.

With the uncertainty of the past two years, it has been fantastic to see the return of competitive schools football, and this year’s McKee Cup competition did not disappoint.