Maghera Power To Mageean Final

St Pat’s power their way to Mageean final

Danske Bank Mageean Cup Semi-final

St Patrick’s Maghera 3-15 St Killian’s Garron Tower 2-12

St Pat’s Maghera turned in a polished performance to see off the challenge of St Killian’s, Garron Tower in Tuesday evening’s Mageean Cup semi-final at Portglenone to book their place in the final for the first time in four years. St Killian’s, the 2023 champions, stayed with the Derry boys well in the first half and were only three points adrift at the break, but St Pat’s upped the pace at the start of the second half and a powerful third quarter sealed their place in the decider.

Two late goals from St Killian’s Connlaodh McNaughton gave his team a glimmer of hope, but St Pat’s had the groundwork done as they won by seven in the end.
To their credit the Garron Tower boys produced a strong finish and two goals from corner forward Connlaodh McNaughton gave them late hope. McNaughton was in on goal again in the final minutes and could have cut the deficit back to a single score, but St Pat’s keeper Dnnacha Collins made a good save to deny his side a nervy finsish and they pointed at the other end a minute later to seal a deserved seven point win.

The early stages were evenly contested when points from left half forward PJ Glover and centre-forward Padraig O’Kane were matched by Connlaodh McNaughton and Oisin Gillan for the Tower and the boys from the Antrim coast actually hit the front when Canice McIntosh put his team ahead. However St Pat’s were holding the upper-hand and when Rian Collins fired home their superiority began to show on the scoreboard. Collins added a point from a free as they began to pull away, but some well taken from points from McIntosh brought his team back to within three by the time match referee Colum McDonald sounded the half time whistle.

When Maghera beat CPC in the first group game at the same venue they blitzed their opponents in the opening ten minutes, but this time around that surge came at the start of the second half and three point advantage was stretched by the minute as they played some sparkling hurling, despite far from ideal conditions. Collins kept adding to his total before corner-forward Ultan McCloskey grabbed his team’s second goal as the gap was soon out to eight. Full forward Fionn Cartan grabbed St Pat’s third goal with a powerful finish from close range and it was all over bar the shouting, or so it seemed.

There was a few anxious moments near the end for the Maghera fans when Connlaodh McNaughton grabbed two quick goals for the Tower, but the their anxiety was short lived as Rian Collins pushed the gap out to seven in injury time.

St Pat’s await the winners of Thursday’s other semi-final between CPC and St Louis, which is fixed for Cushendun at 2pm.

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Picture by John McIlwaine