Abbey CBS display control to             clinch sixth MacRory Cup

Abbey 0-12 Academy 0-08

THE scenes at the final whistle said it all, well almost.

Because every person that ran out onto the field, every man, woman and child that hugged and shook hands and each of the players, all have their own story to tell, but on Friday night at that very moment their school community was united as one.

It was a cup victory that was 20-years in the making, the team has had enough heartbreak on and off the pitch over the years but in Armagh’s Box-IT Athletic Grounds, these footballers etched their names into Abbey history. Some of the players will go on and have successful club and inter-county careers and for others it could be the last trophy they win – Hogan Cup notwithstanding of course.

It is a magnificent achievement for the school, who have won the competition six times and Dan Gordon was delighted to see his players get their rewards.

“I am more proud of the players and what it means for them, but it is massive for this school,” said Gordon.

“We are a gaelic football school and we put a lot of effort into gaelic football, the GAA officers have done a great job throughout the school and we will always push gaelic football. For us not being in a MacRory Final for 20-years is probably not good enough, but we had a good team this year, and we should have a good team next year and I hope we will be here for the next few years.”

While the Newry side didn’t shoot Dungannon’s lights out, they controlled the tempo, managed the game maturely and picked of scores when they could and importantly they defended brilliantly.

Apart from the 15 minutes in the first game, the Abbey CBS were the better team over the two hours and what wrong the first day was put right on Friday night and it’s a good team that can learn and adapt, especially given the quick turnaround from the first day.

“We are absolutely delighted. I am revealed, I suppose were lucky to get out of last week with a draw to force a replay,” Gordon said.

“We had a lot of learning to do and we had to do it very quickly due to the five-day turnaround, So I hadn’t had time to think about it to tell you the truth, it has been a long hard week of finger pointing, probably at ourselves for last week and the mistakes the players made. I think we addressed that and we are delighted.

“Our full-back line took a lot of flak last week for the what the inside forwards scored last week, we knew that couldn’t happen again but we didn’t point the finger at the full-back line, we probably did protect them enough last week. So, we worked a lot this week on creating pods working hard in the middle of the field but also pods working hard that covered our back line.”

Abbey led by four points at the break in what was another thrilling encounter. Last week’s 15-minutes blitz by Dungannon had the Newry side forewarned and the CBS did a super job in defence to limit their opponents to only two first half points.

So, if you take the last half of the previous game, the Tyrone side had only scored a combined four points in 30 minutes of football. The Abbey probably should have been further in front as they dropped at least five first half efforts short, whereas Academy scored only twice from 11 shots in the first period.

Played in Armagh’s Box-IT Athletic Grounds on Friday night, the Tyrone side set an early tempo with Jonah Feeney tapping over with only 12 seconds gone and Laim McGeary’s free two minutes later was Academy’s last score until two minutes into the second half.

Dromintee’s Diarmaid O’Rourke may be an unreluctantly captain but he led by example and fired over Abbey’s first four points. The first he soloed with his right before kicking over with his left, then he levelled the score with a 14-metre free on the right side of the pitch.

On 18 minutes he steered Abbey into the lead after rolling his marker and swinging over after a magnificent surging run from Charlie McGrath. O’Rourke’s left-sided free doubled Newry’s lead and then Saval’s Daniel McKernan kicked over a stunning two-point free..

The last seven minutes of the half was scoreless but it wasn’t down to the lack of trying.

Half-time: Abbey CBS 0-06 St Patrick’s Academy 0-02

Academy matched their first half tally within the opening two minutes of the restart through Eoin Long’s free and a fine point from Michael Hughes after captain McKeown’s effort rebounded off the post.

However, there was no sign of Abbey being rattled, instead McKernan (mark) and O’Rourke’s fifth restored order and Oisin Byrne’s fisted effort put four points between the teams, with 42 minutes played.

O’Rourke’s snatched sixth point doubled Newry’s lead as the game entered the last ten minutes with Abbey leading by five.

All of Newry’s big guns stepped up, they controlled the tempo, ruled the middle but they didn’t fully reflect their dominance on the scoreboard.

O’Rourke won possession he had no right to and off-loaded to the brilliant Charlie McGrath who slotted over. Eoin Long (free) replied for Academy but the game was Abbey’s to lose.

McGeary’s effort could have easily went under the bar, but it went over with the hour gone. The board showed three additional minutes and McKeown fired over to leave a goal between the teams. The tide had turned and McKeown won the next kick-out but Abbey defended brilliantly and McKernan capped off a stunning display to grab a late, late insurance point.

The Abbey never looked like losing as they were on top throughout, goalkeeper James McBennett pulled off a great save and his kicking was smart, the full-back line of Finn Madine, Conor Laverty and Cathal Burns were brilliant and didn’t give their opponents a sniff, nor conceded many fouls.

Fergus Toale made a big impact in the second half and he kept the Abbey side on the front foot, his club-mate O’Rourke was a fantastic captain, cool and in control he drove the team forward and scored for fun. Keelan McEntee was also sensational winning vital ball under his own posts as well as around the middle, while Dara Havern, Charlie and Daniel McKernan made big plays and the nippy Daniel Carr and Odhran Reel were lively throughout.

It was scenes of pure joy and relief at the final whistle and an All-Ireland semi-final awaits.

Abbey won the Hogan Cup in 2006, captained then by current coach Kevin McKernan and when the celebrations quiet down, this Newry side will be ready to face Mullingar for a place in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day.

ABBEY CBS NEWRY: James McBennett; Finn Madine, Conor Laverty, Cathal Burns; Michael O’Neill, Diarmaid O’Rourke (0-6, 3f), Fergus Toale; Keelan McEntee, Dara Havern; Oisin Byrne (0-1), Charlie McGrath (0-1), Daniel McKernan (0-4, 1tp, 1m); Odhran Reel, Daniel Carr, Jack O’Mahony.

Subs: Ryan O’Hare for Reel (53), Tiarnan O’Neill for M O’Neill (60).

ST PATRICK’S ACADEMY DUNGANNON: Ronan Donnelly; Charlie Mulligan, Matthew Daly, Paddy Park; Colm Diver, Ross Daly, Davin McKeown (0-1); James Mulgrew, Michael Hughes (0-1); Darragh Devlin, Aodhan Quinn, Jonah Feeney (0-1); Lorcan McMurray, Eoin Long (0-2, 2f), Liam McGeary (0-3, 1f).

Subs: Odhran Scully for M Daly (47), Dara O’Hagan for R Daly (47), Charlie Maguire for Feeney (50), Ruairi O’Neill for Hughes (56).

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).