Donaghmore Make History
March 11, 2023St.Josephs Donaghmore 2-12 Abbey CBS Tipperary 0-9
St.Josephs Donaghmore added the Paddy Drummond Cup to their MacLarnon Cup title when a strong second half display saw them emerge convincing winners over a gallant Abbey CBS side from Tipperary at the Connaught Centre of Excellence on Saturday afternoon.
The Tyrone side trailed by three points early in the second half but two goals from full forward Mattie McNally turned the tide in their favour and they never looked back. The winners hit a number of wides in the first half and despite three points from Noah Grimes after Cormac Drayne had opened the scoring they trailed 0-5 to 0-4 at the interval with Colin O’Grady, Bill Quirke, Orrin Jones and Conall Grogan all among the points for the Tipperary lads.
Jones and Conall Grogan increased that advantage to three on the restart but after Grimes had opened St.Josephs second half account Darragh Donaghy provided the assist for McNally to find the net in the 39th minute for a lead that they were never to lose. Ronan Molloy and Grimes both converted frees before they took a firm grip on proceedings in the 45th minute when McNally grabbed his second major of the afternoon.
Jones and Grogan had points for Abbey CBS but it was the Tyrone lads who were now totally on top. Centre half forward Grimes took his personal haul to 0-7 and there were scores from Darragh Donaghy (2) and Shane Scullion as they claimed the silverware in style.
St.Josephs Donaghmore: L Quinn, J McNally, B Hughes, C Sweeney, J Rafferty, J Clarke, C O’Neill, S Scullion (0-1), J McKenna, L Hughes, N Grimes (0-7, 3F), D Donaghy (0-2, 2F), C Drayne (0-1, 1F), M McNally (2-0), R Molloy (0-1, 1F). Subs: J Field for J McNally, C Donaghy for Sweeney, E O’Neill for Molloy, MJ Mansell for M McNally
Abbey CBS Tipperary: R McGrath, G Cussen, D O’Brien, E Bonner, E Doocey, C O’Grady (0-1), P Downey, B Quirke (0-1), S Dee, S O’Grady, O Jones (0-4, 3F), L Carew, C O’Dwyer, C Grogan (0-2, 1F), J O’Dwyer. Subs: D Ryan (0-1) for Downey, C Martin for Cussen, E Kennedy for C O’Dwyer, G O’Meara for Grogan, D O’Dwyer for J O’Dwyer
Referee: A Coyne, Westmeath
By Kevin Kelly