Milford take Irish News Cup

Danske Bank Irish News Cup final
Wednesday 29th January, 2pm Garvaghey
Loreto Milford 0-14 Our Lady’s Castleblayney 2-5
LORETO Milford not only took the Irish News Cup away from Garvaghey yesterday afternoon, but also set themselves up as the team to beat in the Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup.
The north east Donegal school play MacLarnon Cup holders St Patrick’s Downpatrick in next week’s quarter-finals and on the evidence of their performance against Our Lady’s Castleblayney they are the team to beat in their first season in the competition after winning back to back Arthurs’ Cup titles.
Castleblayney didn’t score enough in the opening half when they had the strong Garvaghey breeze on their backs and they led by just two points at the break, 1-4 to 0-5.
Jason Duffy had a good half for Our lady’s as had his namesake Shane in defence and Stephen Mooney’s accuracy up front was noteworthy. Mooney scored three frees in the opening 30 minutes and he created the opening for Conor Eccles goal as well.
But Milford still looked the more composed team and Ciaran Moore did very well at centre-forward, supporting the strong midfield pairing of Rory O’Donnell and Bobby McGettigan with the Blacks, Conor and Stephen, coming off the bench to make useful contributions.
Although Mooney tapped over an early free in the second half, Milford hit the next nine points to take a commanding lead, Johnny McGroddy shooting four of those.
Our Lady’s sub Barry John Grimley made the last few minutes more interesting by firing a goal for Castleblayney to narrow the gap to three points. But no further opportunities came their way and Milford were comfortable three points’ winners.
The Donegal side will face MacLarnon holders Downpatrick in a quarter-final tie next Friday, while Our Lady’s quarter-final opponents will come from tomorrow’s (FRIDAY) eliminator between St Paul’s Bessbrook and Abbey VS from Donegal town.
Loreto : R Graham, T McBride, C Coll, D McBride, E O’Donnell, M O’Connell, E Coleman, B McGettigan, r O’Donnell (0-1), Shane Black, C Moore (0-2), A Reid (0-2, 0-1 free), J McGroddy (0-5, 0-3 frees), M McLaughlin, L McGrenaghan (0-2 frees)
Subs : C Black for Shane Black (0-1), Stephen Black (0-1) for E Coleman, D Dorrian for A Reid, J Matthews for R Graham
Our Lady’s : C Duffy, S Callan, G McSkeane, S Hamill, S Duffy, D McMahon, G Quinn, J Carragher, R McGlynn, J Hughes, C Eccles (1-0), J Duffy (0-1), S Mooney (0-4 frees), D Courtney, J Mone
Subs : BJ Grimley (1-0) for J Carragher, C Markey for J Mone, O Gorman for S Hamill, L Brady for G Quinn.