Dean Maguirc College 1-10

St Columba’s Stranorlar 1-9.

Dean Maguirc College hosted Saint Columba’s Stranorlar in the Markey Cup quarter final on Wednesday evening and after a lack lustre opening half they snatched the win right at the end with a hugely improved second half and a late late goal.

The Donegal lads produced a strong first half and were more accurate from open play, assured on the ball and combined slick passing to dominate proceedings.

The Dean on the other hand looked somewhat disjointed and off the pace and were guilty of missing a number of scoring chances allowing St Columba’s to go in at the short whistle 1-8 to 0- 3 ahead.

The second half was a different matter however as the Dean came out a transformed team, went man to man and tackled ferociously.

The Carrickmore students produced a real high energy, high intensity second half that saw St Columba’s on the back foot. The improvement in the Dean’s display was so good that they restricted the Stranorlar lads to a single point in thirty plus minutes as opposed to the the Dean’s 1-7 return.

For long periods of the second period St Columba’s strategy of packed defence looked like they might hold out. However Mickey Joe Mc Glinchey thought different. Just back from a 5 month rehab on his knee the Year 12 pupil was sprung from the bench mid way through the second half. His impact was immediate fielding several fine catches in and around the middle.

Yet he saved his best to last and with time running out for the Dean and 2 points in it with 30 seconds on the clock he latched on to a pass across the square and dispatched it to the net. A last gasp attack by the Donegal lads was thwarted when Finbar Donnelly pulled of a fine aerial catch to clear his lines and secure victory.

The Dean will want to forget their 1st half performance but over the hour Tyrone U20 players Mickey Rafferty and Ronan Fox were impressive as was Davagh Loughran.

In the second it was a more determined all round effort and a committed team display coupled with tenacious hunting in packs won the day.

Dean Maguirc Team.

Killian Kerr, Ruairi Kerr, Pierce Byrne, Francie Hurson, Thomas Duff, Michael Rafferty, Michael Coyle, James Mc Callan(0-1), Ronan Fox(0-1) Sean Og Teague (0-3),Aidan Woods (0-2) Davagh Loughran(0-1) Kevin Cuddy(0-2), Ryan Haughey, Ryan Mc Callan. Subs Finbar Donnelly for Tomas Duff, Calum Stewart for Ryan Haughey, Mickey Joe Mc Glinchey(1-0) for Ruairi Kerr.