St Patrick’s Armagh 2-6 St Macartan’s Monaghan 1-10
St Patrick’s Armagh suffered a cruel one-point defeat to St Macartan’s Monaghan in the second round of the MacRory Cup.
The game, played at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, marked the 100th anniversary of the MacRory Cup.
These two sides met on the same date, November 21, 100 years ago, with St Patrick’s winning 3-3 to 2-2.
The result was reversed this time around however as the Monaghan men snatched victory with a late free.
St Macartan’s were the better team in the opening period, and it showed on the scoreline as they led by five at the break.
However, a second half red card kicked Armagh into gear and St Pat’s will feel hard done by that they didn’t get something out of the game.
Sean Og McElwain got the game up and running with a brace before St Patrick’s rattled home a brilliant goal.
Some quick hands in the forward line saw the ball played to Turlough Muldoon, who fired the ball to the net.
Three on the trot from the visitors restored their lead before Sean Kelly raised a white flag for St Patrick’s.
Tommy Mallon and Dara McCloskey traded scores either side of a fortuitous St Macartan’s goal from John McCrystal.
That handed the away team a strong five-point lead at the half time interval as the led 1-7 to 1-2.
Second half
Things went from bad to worse for the Armagh men at the start of the second half. David Duffy and McElwain scored to open up a seven-point margin.
Ryan Nugent reduced the gap for Patrick Marley’s team before they were reduced to 14 men on the 40th minute.
But that seemed to give them a new lease of life and when full forward McCloskey blasted the ball to the net, St Pat’s were back in contention.
McCloskey followed it up with a left-footed score while some heroics at the back from Paul Hendron, who blotted Mallon out of the game in the second half, kept them in touch.
Pauric O’Keefe landed a huge score from long range before McCloskey tied things up with a pointed free.
The game winning chance fell to McElwain, and the Monaghan minor star tapped over the winning score.
St Patrick’s certainly deserved something from the game for their determination, but some wayward shooting in front of the posts proved their downfall.
It’s a second defeat on the trot for the Armagh College, following their one-point loss to Abbey CBS in round one.
