Danske Bank Leonard Cup semi-final:

St Patrick’s Maghera 4-16 St Mary’s CBGS Belfast 0-5

St Pat’s Maghera produced a quality performance in Wednesday’s Leonard Cup semi-final in Ahoghill to convincingly beat St Mary’s CBGS Belfast and set up an all Derry final against Gaelcholáiste Dhoire.

The Maghera boys struggled to put the scores on the board in the early stages, but once they got going they soon laid down a marker. St Mary’s were holding their own on the scoreboard but once left half forward Don Mulholland found the St Mary’s net it was clear that the Belfast side faced a major task.

Padraig Kelly hit back with a quick point for St Mary’s but St Patrick’s were begging to hit their stride and point from Mulholland, Hasson and Collins began to out space between the sides and when Maghera full forward Sean O’Hara burst through to kick the ball to the net to help his team to a nine point half time lead (2-6 to 0-3)

When O’Hara grabbed St Pat’s third goal one minute into the new half the only thing in question was the size of the winning margin. Things got worse for the Belfast side as Collins tagged on their more points from frees and Burke added two from play. Matthew O’Neill pulled a couple back for St Mary’s but St Pat’s were rampant at this stage and as they emptied the bench more players staked their claim for a starting place in the final, Aaron McGonigle grabbling his team’s fourth goal with a strong finish.

The win sets up an exciting final against their Derry neighbours Gaelcholáiste Dhoire, who impressed two weeks ago when beating Cross & Passion Ballycastle in the other semi-final.

St Patrick’s: S O’Hara 2-0, D Mulholland 1-2, A McGonigle 1-0, D Collins 0-8 (fs), O Burke 0-2, D Hasson and R O’Loughlin 0-1 each

St Mary’s: M O’Neill 0-3 (fs), P Kelly 0-2 (fs)

St Pats Maghera

F Wallace, C Duggan, D McKaigue, J Bradley, K Friel, D McEldowney, D McKenna, C McDonnell, S McCormick, D Mulholland, D Collins, O Burke, J Conway, S O’Hara, D Hasson.

Subs: R O’Loughlin for O Burke, B Bradley for D Hasson, T Leadon for J Conway, A McGonigle for D Mulholland.

ST Mary’s CBGS

D Gault, E Hughes, E Flynn, D Rainey, O Marley, M O’Neill, B McCaul, J Gamble, C Dempsey, R McIlhatton, F Smyth, O Kennedy, P Kelly, A McCahey, S McGarry.

Subs: T McCaughey for O Kennedy, F McKenna for R McIlhatton.

Referee: O Elliott (All Saints)

Pics by Bert Trowlen

Report thanks to The Saffron Gael