St. Michael's 2-08 St. Patrick's Dungannon 3-11

St. Michael’s MacRory Cup hopes were ended at the play-off stage of the competition with defeat to St. Patrick’s Dungannon in Derrylin on Monday afternoon.

The Enniskillen school had made a flying start to the game as they raced into a 2-01 to 0-00 lead after only seven minutes with goals from Matty McDermott and Michael Burns, but Dungannon put the bad start behind them to respond in a positive manner as they went in at the break with a one-point lead.

And the Tyrone school had the better of things in the second half to deservedly take their place in the last eight of the competition.

St. Michael’s though will have been disappointed with the overall performance, with too many mistakes proving costly on the day.

Manager Peter Teague was disappointed with the outcome.

“Really disappointing, everything had gone to plan for the first 15 minutes. Seven points up, which we needed to be playing into a strong breeze.

“A few fortunate goals from Dungannon and a build up of handling errors and poor decision making sucked the life out of us. The goal at the start of the second half was the killer but I was proud of how the boys fought to the end and on another day could have pulled off a comeback with Oisin Swift rattling the post and Diarmuid Owens inches from getting a goal,” he said.

And Teague acknowledged that it was a tough season as St. Michael’s had to do without key men at different stages of the campaign.

“It was a difficult campaign from the off having key players injured especially our captain Lughaidh Donnelly and Lanty Feely who was only fit for 30 minutes.

“Conor O’Hanlon probably shouldn’t have played at all but battled bravely having not trained for three weeks.

“Take men like that out of any team and you will be up against it.

“These boys have come on leaps and bounds since our first night out and hopefully they will have brighter days ahead for their respective clubs and counties,” he added.

Played in very blustery conditions, St. Michael’s had the advantage of the breeze in the first half and could not have hoped to get off to a better start to the tie.

The lively Burns registered the opening score of the game with a point from the left before the Fermanagh side then swooped for the first goal of the contest.

A strong run from Diarmuid Owens saw him race through the Dungannon defence before then playing in McDermott, and he made no mistake in firing to the back of the Dungannon net.

And a minute later, St. Michael’s struck for their second goal. McDermott did well to claim a mark and although his effort was to drop short, it was spilled by the Dungannon netminder, and Burns was on hand to force it into the net to make it 2-01 to 0-01.

St. Patrick’s finally started to settle into the game after this whirlwind start by St. Michael’s, and Ronan Cassidy got them up and running when he converted a free.

Burns responded with a free for St. Michael’s, while Luke Neeson and McDermott swapped points to leave St. Michael’s with a 2-03 to 0-02 advantage after 12 minutes.

Gained a grip

Dungannon though went on to have the better of things over the remainder of the half as they gained a grip on things in the middle third, and Ben Cullen netted their first goal, latching on to a ball by Dillion O’Neill before tucking home.

Conor O’Hanlon answered with a free for St. Michael’s, but Dungannon then went down the other end of the pitch and Theo Lowe fired to the net. Cullen was again involved as he set up Lowe, who finished beyond Se Mulligan in the St. Michael’s goal.

Cullen then tagged on a point before Cassidy levelled matters and a Cassidy free late in the half sent Dungannon in with a one-point half-time advantage, 2-05 to 2-04.

Playing against the breeze, St. Michael’s needed a good start to the second half, but instead they found themselves four points adrift within the opening minute of the half as Finn Spence slotted to the net after a scramble in the Enniskillen goal mouth.

With Cullen and Sean Hughes tagging on points, St. Patrick’s moved six points to the good, 3-07 to 2-04.

Burns landed St. Michael’s first point of the second half following a strong run, but Dungannon replied with a point from Ryan Lavery.

As the game entered the final quarter, St. Michael’s needed a goal if they were to get back into the tie, and McDermott went close only to be denied by Conan McGarvey in the Dungannon goal.

Caolan Brennan did clip over a point for St. Michael’s, but any score they could muster was answered straight away by Dungannon with Cassidy knocking over from play and the same player then lobbed over two frees to make it 3-11 to 2-06.

St. Michael’s did keep battling and Oisin Swift was denied by the post, while Burns had an effort that was deflected away.

Lanty Feely and O’Hanlon did land a late point for St. Michael’s, but these were only consolation scores as Dungannon ran out six-point victors to book their place in the last eight.