St Louis edge out St Mary’s in Mageean
October 02, 2025
St Louis edge out St Mary’s CBGS to get Mageean campaign off to good start
Danske Bank Mageean Cup – Group A
St Mary’s CBGS Belfast 2-12 St Louis Ballymena 1-16
St Louis made a winning start to Wednesday’s Mageean Cup campaign when they edged out St Mary’s CBGS by a single point at Hannahstown. The Ballymena school were more efficient than their Belfast opponents who ran up a total of twenty wides during the hour.
St Louis made a good start and had three on the board before St Mary’s raised a flag, two of them from full forward Jay McAlonan and one from Joe Casey, but St Mary’s eventually found their range and Sean Og McLaren got his team going with a goal. Matthew Murray added a point for the Belfast boys but St Louis responded with a goal of their own from midfielder James McGarry. The remainder of the half was score for score, with St Louis superior accuracy just giving them the edge Eanna McGuckian claiming the last point to send his team in with a 1-08 to 1-07 advantage.
Two points from Jay McAlonan and one from Caolan McCollum stretched the St Louis lead to four early in the second half as inaccuracy continued to hinder the Belfast boys. Once again Sean Og McLaren was the saviour for the Glen Road school when he fired in a penalty before adding a point soon after to tie the scores.
St Mary’s Caolan Wilson gets away from St Louis Eanna McGuckian during Wednesday’s Mageean Cup opener at Lamh Dhearg. Pic by Bert Trowlen
It looked anyone’s game for the remainder of the third quarter with nothing to separate the sides until Jay McAlonan edged St Louis in front again a minute from the end. St Mary’s had one last chance to salvage something from the game but McLaren’s effort from a difficult free was just off target and the Ballymena boys held on…..but only just.
St Louis: J McGarry 1-1, J McAlonan 0-9, J Casey 0-4, E McGuckin and C McCollum 0-1 each.
St Mary’s: S óg McLaren 2-2, M Murray 0-4, O McLaren 0-3, L Rafferty, D Jemfrey and J Gault 0-1 each.
Published on The Saffron Gael
Images at https://www.facebook.com/ulsterschoolsgaa/photos
