Rathmore book place in Casement Cup final

Rathmore book place in Casement Cup final against St Patrick’s, Keady

Danske Bank Casement Cup semi-final

Rathmore Grammar 2-13 Lecale Trinity 0-13

A STAND-OUT performance from Rathmore Grammar’s centre-back Donncha McGurk propelled the Belfast side to a comfortable enough victory over Lecale Trinity in yesterday’s Danske Bank Casement Cup semi-final in Woodlands.

McGurk had an outstanding game well supported by Ronan Taylor, Fionn McCann and Jay Ward, while Cian Clarke, DJ Farrell and Matthew Murray did their best to keep the Downpatrick school in touch.

The Rathmore goals at the start and very end of the first half made the difference at half-time and the gap was maintained in the second half.

The first goal came in the sixth minute from Aodhán O’Hanlon and put Rathmore 1-2 to 0-0 ahead. DJ Farrell opened Lecale’s account a minute later but McGurk and Ronan Taylor had added further points for Rathmore before Cian Clare tagged on a second for the east Down side.

Lecale were just a goal in arrears when James McElhone struck for the second goal of the game in the 28th minute and Rathmore led by 2-5 to 0-6 at the change of ends.

Chris Robb (free) and Taylor increased that lead on the re-start before Lecale got going again. They never really managed to close the gap, however.

In next week’s final, Rathmore will face St Patrick’s, Keady.

By Séamas McAleenan Published In The Irish news November 28, 2024