Ronan Molloy hot in Irish News final

Danske Bank Irish News Cup Final
St Joseph’s Donaghmore 6-8 St Ciaran’s Ballygawley 1-6
From Kevin Kelly in Galbally

St Joseph’s Donaghmore proved to be the dominant force in this all Tyrone Danske Bank Irish News Cup Final at Galbally yesterday afternoon when goals were the key to unlocking St Ciaran’s Ballygawley.
The winners had the better work ethic throughout and in Ronan Molloy they possessed a player on top of his game, the full forward finishing with 3-4 to his name, all from play.
It was St Ciaran’s who led 0-2 to 0-1 early on thanks to points from Daniel Rafferty and Callum Quinn before Molloy turned sharply to split the posts for his second point of the contest.
In the 12th minute the winners grabbed their first goal and it came in fortunate circumstances as an attempt for a point from Stephen Canavan deceived keeper Padraig Gavin and sailed all the way to the net.
Sixty seconds later they scored another major when Molloy finished off a flowing move involving John McKenna and Cormac Drayne. St Joseph’s were well on top at this stage and after missing a few chances they extended their advantage with a Conn Sweeney point.
Rafferty then got a much needed point for St Ciaran’s from a free and in the 28th minute they were right back in contention when corner forward Conor McCool blasted to the net after receiving a pass from Thomas McGuigan.
Only three points separated the sides at that stage but crucially St Joseph’s had the final say of the half when Molloy showed great strength to hold off two or three challenges to fire to the net for a 3-3 to 1-3 lead.
St Ciaran’s needed a good start to the second half but the opposite happened as St Joseph’s picked up were they had left off. Molloy pointed and in the 5th minute MJ Mansell and Leo Hughes combined for Cormac Drayne to smash an unstoppable shot to the top right hand corner of the net.
Drayne tagged on a point and while a Callum Quinn free got St Ciaran’s up and running for the second half they had it all to do going into the final quarter trailing 4-5 to 1-4.
Molloy then won a 47th minute penalty which Mansell expertly converted and while Conor Kane had a point at the other end of the field the game was over as a contest.
Leo Hughes, Molloy and Sweeney all added points before man of the match Molloy completed his hat trick three minutes from time.
St Joseph’s Donaghmore: M Logan, F McNeill, C Donaghy, J Clarke, S Scullion, C O’Neill, B Hughes, D Cummings, C McCartan, C Sweeney (0-2), J McKenna, C Drayne (1-1), MJ Mansell (1-0), R Molloy (3-4), S Canavan (1-0).
Subs: L Hughes (0-1) for Canavan, D Wilson for Donaghy, JP Coyle for Mansell, J Corrigan for Scullion, J Kelly for Clarke

St Ciaran’s Ballygawley: P Gavin, C Kerr, D McGinley, E Loughran, T McElroy, Conal Quinn, H McGinn, T McGuigan, C Donnelly, C Mellon, D Rafferty (0-2), Callum Quinn (0-2), C Kane (0-2), R O’Sullivan, C McCool (1-0).
Subs: R McElroy for O’Sullivan, P Corrigan for Loughran
Referee: C Forbes