St Ronan’s 0-9 Patrician High School 3-9
St Ronan’s Lurgan lost out to Patrician High School of Carrickmacross in the opening round of the MacRory Cup.
Played in Middletown, the sides were evenly matched early on but a strong finish to the opening half powered Patrician ahead.
James Austin opened the scoring following good work from Adhamh Towe before Patrician levelled through Kian Duffy.
Rogan McVeigh also traded scores with Duffy before the Carrickmacross side went ahead for the first time.
Padraig Gowdy levelled for the Lurgan men, but the rest of the half belonged to the opposition. They hit 1-5 on the bounce with the goal coming through Duffy.
McVeigh slotted over the final score of the half with Patrician ahead 1-8 to 0-4 at the half time break.
Like the first half, St Ronan’s got the game up and running after the turnaround with a score from Cohen Henderson.
His effort was soon cancelled out by Duffy, who’s goal-bound effort was saved by St Ronan’s net minder Conor Lennon and ricochet over the bar.
Sean Reid, fresh from the bench, opened his account but was soon replaced with a dislocated finger forcing him off.
Patrician bagged a second goal ten minutes into the second half to put themselves nine points clear, 2-9 to 0-6.
Ethan McKenna landed a long-range free kick while Austin raised another white flag to cut the deficit to seven.
But any hope of a revival was thwarted with another goal. The Patrician keeper’s 45 ended up in the back of the net.
McKenna swung over another outrageous effort, but the result was beyond doubt at that stage and nine was the difference in the end.
