June 2005 - The Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School

BANK OF IRELAND MACRORY CUP QUARTER FINALABBEY BOYS FAIL TO OVERCOME OMAGH CBS INA CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE DOUR KINDOMAGH CBS 0-7ABBEY CBS, NEWRY 1-3A goal in the last minute by Abbey’s StephenQuinn wasn’t enough to get the Newry schoolinto the hat for the next round of this year’s Bankof Ireland MacRory Cup. Omagh CBS greetedthe final whistle with relief at a wet and windyMonaghan Harps ground with their ChristianBrothers’ opponents pushing for the equaliser inthis low key quarter final match. The Newryschool shall be disappointed as they won morepossession than Omagh CBS but a combinationof not converting this possession into scores andpoor passing in the final third of the field led totheir downfall.The game started with the Abbey captain andUlster Colleges Hurling Allstar, EoinMcGuinness, leading the way and pointing theopening score after driving forward frommidfield. Then Omagh got three unansweredpoints. The first was from Shaun O’Neill afterdetermined work by Cathir Tierney. This wasfollowed by a good team effort out of the Omaghdefence that led to Kevin Gallagher in fullforward latching onto a point. Abbey’s KevinDyas, at centre half back, was beginning to showwhy he has been an Armagh county minor for thelast two years with his ability to break downmoves and set up attacks for his own team.As the weather conditions deteriorated bothteams, to their credit, battled with the elements.Mistakes were made on both sides as passes wentastray and balls skidded on the greasy surface.Nippy corner forward Shane Coyle gave theTyrone school a two point cushion when hegathered a ball that had slid under his marker andwith only the ‘keeper to beat blasted the ball overthe bar. The Abbey forward line was re-organisedand Stephen Quinn pointed the last score of thehalf after good work by his team mate SeamusToner.Half time score Omagh CBS 0-3 v AbbeyCBS, Newry 0-2.Omagh started the second half stronger andscored a point in the first minute when their bigmidfielder and Ulster Colleges’ Allstar SeanO’Neill latched onto a ball following interpassingfrom Shaun O’Neill and Kevin Gallagher.Silverbridge’s Gerard McGarvey pulled a pointback for the Abbey before Gallagher got onto apass that had been fielded by Tierney in themiddle. Another one of Omagh’s three footballAllstars, Stephen Donaghy, playing in fullforward, pointed a free to give the Tyrone schoola three point lead.Midway through the second half MichaelMcAllister in the Abbey goals pulled off a greatsave from Omagh’s Conor McCullagh, diving athis feet to put the ball around the post. Burren’sKevin McKernan was trying to drag his schoolback into the match with his display in midfield.The Ulster Colleges’ Football Allstar wonpossession for the Abbey as he fielded numerousballs under pressure from his opponents.Omagh CBS moved into a four point lead inthe last ten minutes when their captain RonanMcRory scored the school’s last point fromtwenty metres. Rather than continue to attack,Omagh pulled players back to defend their leadand this nearly cost them the game as the Abbeypushed forward to get that elusive goal. In thisthrilling period numerous balls were lobbed intothe Omagh square but each time they were eitherblocked or cleared by a stubborn defence.Defenders like Hugh Gallagher, John Cassidy,Joey Kelly and Dean O’Neill were not giving uptheir lead without a fight.With five minutes left Abbey’s Stephen Quinnmissed an important close-in free, but he madeup for his miss a few minutes later when Dyaspassed to him and ‘soccer style’ he danced arounda few defenders and slotted the ball low into thenet in the final minute. Much as they tried to getanother score, the Newry school were out of time– the goal had come too late.Omagh must raise their game for a semi-finalagainst either St. Michael’s, Enniskillen or St.Patrick’s, Maghera as another performance likethis shall not be good enough to get a day out onSt. Patrick’s Day in Casement Park in the final.Although they shall be satisfied that ‘the job wasdone’ they know that it was too close for comfortand that if the Abbey had possessed more scoringforwards then the result could have beendifferent.Teams and scorers:Abbey CBS Newry: Michael McAllister, MarkDigney, Darren Fegan, Rory Grant, Robert Ryan,Kevin Dyas, Darren Rowland, Kevin McKernan,Eoin McGuinness, Captain(0-1), StephenQuinn(1-1), Cathal Magee, Padraig McGahon,Seamus Grant, Gerard McGarvey(0-1), SeamusToner. Subs used: Ruairi Cunningham andBrendan Allen.Omagh CBS: Kerill Winters, Hugh Gallagher,John Cassidy, Joey Kelly, Dean O’Neill, BrendanMartin, Mel Cassidy, Sean O’Neill(0-1), CathirTierney, Conal McCullagh, Ronan McRory,Captain(0-1), Shaun O’Neill(0-1), ShaneCoyle(0-1), Kevin Gallagher(0-2), StephenDonaghy(0-1). Subs used: Conor O’Donnell andCathal McCarron.Referee: Michael Convery, Derry.ABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 10