St. Michael's edge MacRory thriller

Gareth Cauldwell • Published 12 Feb 2012 13:30

St. Michael's 1-13; Omagh CBS 1-12

St. Michael's Enniskillen set up a BT MacRory Cup semi-final meeting with St. Patrick's Armagh after they edged a thriller against Omagh CBS in Dunmoyle on Saturday morning.

Omagh had entered the game as favourites having comfortably beaten St.Michael's in the McCormack Cup final but Dom Corrigan's charges produced a much improved performance on this occasion, coming from three points down in the final quarter to secure a narrow one point victory.

St. Michael's got off to the best possible start when they found the back of the Omagh net inside the opening seconds.

The Enniskillen side won the throw up and the ball was worked through Brian McAleer, Eddie Courtney and Niall Maguire before arriving in the hands of half back Niall Beggan who planted a shot beyond Ryan McShane in the Omagh goals.

Liam Martin then lobbed over a free for St. Michael's as they claimed a 1-1 to no score lead with three minutes played.

Omagh responded well to this though and an unanswered 1-2 put them ahead by the tenth minute.

Full forward Ruairi Bradley opened their account from a close in free and this was then followed by a converted penalty from Ryan Mayse.

Bradley was adjudged to have been fouled by goalkeeper Paddy Sweeney with referee Joe McQuillan awarding a penalty which was clinically dispatched by the impressive Mayse.

Mayse then blazed over a point to nudge Omagh in front before the hard working Maguire hit back with a point for the Fermanagh outfit.

St. Michael's dominated possession in the middle third but when Omagh did get the ball into their inside forwards they looked like causing problems with Mayse in particular on song.

Bradley clipped over two frees, sandwiching a fine solo effort from Enniskillen's Eddie Courtney, to leave it 1-04 to 1-03 at the midway stage of the first half.

St. Michael's though registered the final two points of the half from Tommy McCaffrey and a Courtney free to give them a slender one point advantage at the interval, 1-05 to 1-04.

A Ruairi Sludden point for Omagh levelled matters on the restart but St. Michael's replied with points from Courtney and McCaffrey to edge two points ahead.

However, Omagh were to enjoy their best spell of the game in the next period and five points in five minutes saw the game swing the way of the Tyrone side.

Sludden knocked over his second of the contest and this was followed by a converted free from Cormac O'Neill, two points from play from Mayse, including a superb score from the right, with Christopher McClean also chipping in with a point to make it 1-10 to 1-7.

Just when it appeared that Omagh were starting to pull away though St. Michael's rallied.

Courtney and Martin lofted over frees although substitute Darragh Kavanagh pushed the Omagh lead back out two with a point from play.

The momentum though was beginning to swing St. Michael's way and midfielder McAleer landed an inspirational point from play before Rory Brennan fired over the equaliser with six minutes to go.

When Courtney then tagged on a point from a free and a wonderful score from play, it looked to be game over as the Enniskillen team moved into a 1-13 to 1-11 lead with 59 minutes on the clock.

There was though to be one final twist as Omagh launched a last ditch attack in an effort to retrieve the game. Full forward Bradley rose superbly to catch a high ball over full back Che Cullen which left him through on goal. However, St. Michael's goalkeeper Sweeney pulled off an excellent save to deny Omagh and maintain the St. Michael's advantage.

Mayse did go on to fire over a free in added on time but this was the last action of the game as St. Michael's held on for the victory.

Scorers

St. Michael's

E. Courtney (0-6, 4f), N. Beggan (1-0), L. Martin (0-2, 2f), T. McCaffrey (0-2), B. McAleer (0-1), N. Maguire (0-1), R. Brennan (0-1).

Omagh CBS

R. Mayse (1-4, 1-0 pen, 1f), R. Bradley (0-3, 3f), R. Sludden (0-2), C. O'Neill (0-1, 1f), C. McClean (0-1), D. Kavanagh (0-1)

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