Daniel Carr popped up with an injury-time equaliser to send a thrilling MacRory Cup final to a replay as Abbey CBS fought back for a 0-18 to 1-15 draw against St Patrick’s, Dungannon.

Leading by nine at half-time, the Tyrone school looked on course to make up for their disappointment at the final stage two years ago, but the Newry outfit flipped momentum in the second half as they live to fight another day.

The Newry side opened well with early scores from Diarmaid O’Rourke, but St Patrick’s roared into it with a sixth-minute goal when Eoin Long was picked out by Liam McGeary to race through and finish low to the net.

While the Abbey levelled and the sides then swapped points, St Patrick’s took over with the next nine points in a row.

Long began with the sequence with man of the match McGeary kicking five, Lorcan McMurray with a brace and Aodhan Quinn also in the act before the Abbey summoned a reply through Keelan McEntee.

Fergus Toale added another, but a two-pointer from St Patrick’s captain Davin McKeown pushed the gap back to nine and after a late exchange of scores, the Dungannon side held a 1-13 to 0-7 lead at the break with Abbey denied a goal late in the half with Ronan Donnelly saving from Michael O’Neill.

It seemed they were well on their way, but two early scores from O’Rourke gave the Abbey a glimmer early in the second half.

Still, with St Patrick’s scoring two of the next three that included McGeary’s sixth from play, there was no hint of the drama that was to follow as the Abbey mounted a charge in the final quarter.

Daniel McKernan’s followed up a fisted effort with a two-point free and when Keelan McEntee pointed, the gap was down to much more manageable four.

Abbey could have been closer, if not ahead, had some of their goal chances been converted with Fergus Toale firing wide and Daniel Carr was just off target from distance, but a McKernan score with five to go left three between them.

That gap ought to have been wiped out but for goal-line heroics by St Patrick’s Ruairi O’Neill who thwarted Charlie McGrath and Odhran Reel, but momentum was with the Newry outfit as McGrath and Jack O’Mahoney brought the gap to one and then Carr completed the comeback deep in added time to force a replay on Friday, 13 February.

By BBC Northern Ireland

Highlights

O’Rourke hungry for more glory

Diarmaid O’Rourke will bid to become the sixth Abbey CBS captain to hold aloft the Danske Bank MacRory Cup when they go head-to-head with St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds on Sunday afternoon.

O’Rourke is one of six Dromintee men in the starting line-up, including the entire half-back line with him in the centre, and there is no doubt having that many players from the one club is a help, especially when it is a side that have won numerous trophies over the years including the prestigious Ulster minor competition at St Paul’s in Belfast at Christmas.

And O’Rourke is keen to add another piece of silverware to a successful season thus far.

“It has been a great time alright and I’m just trying to soak it all in and take all the wins that I can. I’m sure it won’t last forever, but it’s a brilliant time at the minute,” he said.

While the medals have flowed at club level, this group of players representing Abbey CBS have yet to get their hands on a colleges title and at their age there are misses, this weekend would be the ideal time to put that right.

“We have competed well in our group from Corn na nÓg up, with Dungannon beating us in that final as well as the Oisin McGrath final following year,” said O’Rourke.

“We have been close and just come up short and for us it’s all about getting that one or two per cent more to enable us to take that one step further and get over the line. I think we have got better with each game this season and have a bit of momentum behind us.”

Through the group stages they improved and then in their first knock-out game they targeted Cavan as we knew they were a quality team and if we got past that we would have a shot at the holders Maghera in the quarter-final. It was tight but we just did enough to win it.

That Cavan game was a big test for the Abbey and it is fair to say they have had a tough path to the final, having beaten Maghera in the last eight before coming from four down in the second half of an Ulster semi-final to defeat Omagh CBS side last day out.

“The Maghera game was huge as it was against the reigning Hogan champions and we had to travel to Celtic Park and that certainly didn’t make it any easier,” said O’Rourke.

“We knew that we had the potential to beat them, down the years we felt that we always had the potential to beat any side as long as we showed up on the day.

“Up until that Maghera game we maybe hadn’t put in a whole performance to win a big game like that and when we did it was a great confidence boost.

“Next up was an Omagh side who had beaten us well in the group stages and we discussed that game a lot in the build-up to the semi-final. The main thing against Omagh at Healy Park was our work-rate for each other — it just wasn’t there, it was nothing to do with our football.

“It was all about working a bit harder for ourselves and we brought that more against them in Fintona, especially in the second half, as we won a lot more of our kick-outs and built on that.”

Another severe test awaits in the form of an Academy side who have won everything throughout their school careers but it all boils down to the 60-plus minutes at the Athletic Grounds.

There is no doubt O’Rourke will have a key role to play, especially after notching 0-9 in that win over Omagh, his haul including three frees from outside the arc with either foot.

“Dungannon will be favourites going into the game and we are going to have to live with that and try and nullify their key threats by working as hard as we can and do the simple things right and hopefully it leads to success,” he said.

“That’s part of my game that I have worked on a lot, my long-distance shooting, as with the new rules two-pointers are a key factor as they can decide games. I really enjoy that new rule and try to take advantage of it as much as I can.”

McKeown desperate to go one step further this time

St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon were last crowned Danske Bank MacRory Cup champions in 2009 and — like Abbey CBS — they feel that it has been too long a wait to get their hands on the most coveted piece of silverware in Ulster Colleges’ football.

For one of those schools that anxious wait will end this weekend and it will be the third time they have faced each other in finals during their school careers. This, however, is the big one and nobody knows that more than Academy captain Davin McKeown, who was in the team when they lost to Tyrone neighbours Omagh CBS in 2024.

“We probably got a wee taste of it two years ago, what it would have meant to have won it and we have gone through all this buzz before in the build-up to a MacRory final,” he said.

“We came up short that day against Omagh and it hurt and once you get that close to it you realise what it would mean to everybody to win it — the school and the culture around it. It is in a good place at the moment with the younger lads getting into a Corn na nÓg final recently so things are going the right road.”

This Dungannon side have won all four Grade A competitions throughout their school careers and were installed as favourites for the competition early on but they struggled to find their form in the group stages. They still managed to top their group, however, and since then they have shown real character to overcome Our Lady’s, Castleblayney and Abbey Vocational School respectively in the Quarter and Semi Finals.

In their quarter-final they were well on top in the first half but things threatened to turn after the break when they struggled for scores. It took a late goal from Liam McGeary to level matters before further scores from James Mulgrew edged them ahead and secured the win.

Their semi-final was another major test. They trailed by six points before fighting back and eventually coming through after extra time — a performance that underlined the belief within the panel.

“I say this a lot but the guys on our team are winners and they know when it’s time to kick back in,” said McKeown.

“People that night probably thought it wasn’t going to happen for us but I always felt something would happen, that a spark would be lit, and thankfully it did.

“Abbey Vocational School were always going to be very tough in the semi as they had a big Four Masters contingent in their side — a club who have been so successful in recent times — so we knew it was going to be a big battle despite the fact we went into the game as favourites.

“Thankfully we came from behind again to get over the line.”

“There is no doubt those two titanic battles have us battle-hardened and ready, but the biggest test is still to come,” he said.

“To be honest I wouldn’t have fancied many sides over Abbey with the players that they have and the experience they have with Dromintee and What not”., he said.

“We have played them down the years in various competitions and they are always tough customers. Nobody can argue with the fact that they have earned the right to be in the final.”

“They are backed by that successful backboned by that successful Dromintee side so a lot of their players are winners and know what it takes to perform on a big day. They have a number of quality players that will have to be dealt with — but having said that, so do we so it is going to be some battle on Sunday.”