Cathair Dhoire finish strongly in MacLarnon

Danske Bank Ulster Schools MacLarnon Cup semi-final

Cathair Dhoire 1-10 Inis Eoghain 1-7

From Odhrán Crumley in Celtic Park

Cathair Dhoire have set-up a MacLarnon Cup final meeting with St Patrick’s Downpatrick on March 18th after the Derry amalgamation saw off a valiant Inis Eoghain fight.

The Donegal side led by the minimum at the break courtesy of Christopher McDaid’s poacher instincts to punch the ball into the net.

Josh Conlon opened the scoring from a free inside the first minute of the game before Ryan Brown restored parity, shooting after a fine swivel.

Eoghan Cassidy and Fergal Mortimer added scores against the wind for their side before Conlon nailed a free in response.
There were 17 minutes on the clock when Matthew Stephenson spilled Jonathan Toye’s pointed effort into the path of Christopher McDaid who made no mistake in punching the ball into the net.

Conlon landed yet another free before Cassidy pointed to stop the rot for the Oak Leaf men who had failed to register a score for 17 minutes.

Ben McCarron added his first score of the game on the whistle, but it was the Donegal side which led by the minimum at the break, 1-3 to 0-5.

Despite being behind at the break the Derry men would not have been too down-heartened given the fact that they would have a strong wind advantage for the second stanza.

Conlon and Mortimer landed frees inside the opening minutes of the half before Cathair Dhoire kicked five wides in a row which amounted to a total of thirteen over the course of the hour.

With 15 minutes left to play it was Derry under-age star, Ben McCarron who cut through the heart of the Inis Eoghain defence before being illegally upended by Conor O’Donnell.

Referee Sean Laverty duly awarded a penalty and McCarron stepped up to fire the ball into the bottom right corner of the net and give his side a two points’ lead.

Further City wides would follow before points from Rory Hirrell and a superb effort from Matthew Mullholland levelled proceedings with four left on the clock.

It was at this juncture that both sides needed leaders and it was the men in red that took control, Mortimer landing a colossal free from 40 yards to edge his side back in front.

Ben McCarron added another score with the outside of his right boot before substitute Tiernan O’Kane hit a monstrous effort from the narrowest of angles to put two between them with time up.

Inis Eoghain would need a goal and they almost had that as a high ball was directed into the area and met by the hand of Donal Doherty who flicked the ball goal wards but it cannoned off the crossbar before falling over bar.
Jude ógg Moore put the icing on the cake, sealing a final spot for his team splitting the posts with the last action of the game to confirm a three points’ win.

Cathair Dhoire: M Stephenson, P O’Flaherty, N Ó Mianáin, M Lynch, J Mullan, S McElhinney, C McLaughlin, C Mooney, O McGrath, S Browne, B McCarron (1-2, 1f, 1pen), F Mortimer (0-3, 3f), R Brown (0-1), E Cassidy (0-2), C McMonagle.
Subs: J óg Moore (0-1) for C McMonagle (42), T O’Kane (0-1) for J Mullan (54), O McMenamin for R Brown (56)

Inis Eoghain: D McCallion, E McCallion, A Doherty, O Kelly, D Doherty (0-1), O Devlin, C McNutt, G McDaid, C O’Donnell, J Conlon (0-4, 4f), C McDaid (1-0), C Carlin, B Doherty, J Toye, R Hirrell (0-1).
Subs: M Mullholland (0-1) for O Kelly (26), L Doherty for C Carlin (HT)

Referee: S Laverty (Antrim)