Historic First Markey Cup Title For Dean

Wednesday 08.02.2023

Club Life

Dean Maguirc Carrickmore 3-8 Coláiste Cholmcille Ballyshannon 1-10

History was made at Roslea on Wednesday evening when Dean Maguirc Carrickmore won the Ulster Schools Markey Cup for the first time in their history with a deserved four point win over Coláiste Cholmcille Ballyshannon.

It was a superb game of football played on a perfect surface between two well drilled sides. The winners grabbed goals either side of halftime and while their opponents battled back the Dean were able to keep their noses in front. Dean keeper Kilian Kerr was called into action in the opening seconds to save well from Anton Govorov while he also blocked two follow ups as well. Kevin Cuddy opened the scoring before Sean Og Teague doubled Dean’s advantage but by the 11^th minute the sides were level thanks to efforts from Aongas Sweeney and Ryan Barrett.

The Dean though were enjoyed a purple patch with Michael Rafferty, Pierce Byrne, James McCallan, Ronan Fox, Teague, Davagh Loughran and Aidan Woods all to the fore and efforts from Teague and Woods (2) moved them 0-5 to 0-2 in front. They missed a number of chances though and that allowed their opponents to reduce the deficit to the minimum with points from Jack Gallagher and Barrett. In the final attack of the first half though midfielder McCallan surged through and gave keeper Aaron Cullen no chance with a thumping shot to the top left hand corner of the net to leave it 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.

Things got even better for Dean Maguirc in the first attack of the second half when Woods finished in style to the bottom right hand corner of the net to give them a firm grip on proceedings. Loughran tagged on a point and at this stage it looked as though the Dean would assume complete control. The Donegal lads though had other ideas and a brace of points from Kyle McNulty was followed by a brilliant goal from Govorov in the 38^th minute to leave just a single score between the sides.

Gallagher then reduced the gap to two and the momentum appeared to have turned until the Dean reasserted themselves. Mickey Joe McGlinchey got a vital point for he winners and that was quickly followed by a quality score from distance from Cuddy. With eight minutes to go substitute Callum Stewart gave the Dean some breathing space with their third goal. That proved to be their last score but they had done enough. Gallagher kicked a brace of points before being sent off while McNulty registered again but the night belonged to Dean Maguirc as they secured a fabulous and well deserved win.