Two sides who had experienced contrasting fortunes first day out went head to head at St.Tiernachs Park in Clones on Friday afternoon and it was St.Pats Cavan who edged it with the minimum to spare to collect their first Danske Bank MacRory Cup points of the campaign.

The Tyrone lads led by two points at the break and when Darragh Donaghy found the net they looked set for back to back wins in their debut season in the competition. An opportunist goal from Conor Sharpe though put the Cavan lads in front and they held onto that advantage in the last ten minutes.

It was Cavan who led at the end of the opening quarter thanks to points from Senan Shiels, Darragh Noonan and Sharpe, Donnacha and Conor O’Neill the St.Josephs scorers. As the half wore on though Donaghmore began to impose themselves on the contest and points from Noah Grimes and Conor O ‘Neill coupled with a brace from Joseph Corrigan saw them greet the short whistle 0-6 to 0-4 in front.

Sharpe reduced the deficit to the minimum on the restart before the Tyrone lads got their goal. They moved the ball through the hands at pace with Eoghan O’Neill offloading for Darragh Donaghy to provide a clinical finish low to the bottom corner of the net.

Noonan, wing half back Cian McCrystal and Sharpe responded with Cavan points with substitute Martin Coyle raising a white flag at the other end of the field to ensure St.Josephs stayed in front. With ten minutes to go St.Pats struck for a crucial goal when a high ball into the danger area broke and Sharpe reacted first to send to an open net.

Noonan and Corrigan swapped points before a Grimes free reduced the deficit to the minimum. Cavan though won possession from the next kick out and retained the ball to run the clock down and take the spoils.

Cavan scorers: C Sharpe 1-4, D Noonan 0-4 (2F), S Shiels 0-1, C McCrystal 0-1

Donaghmore scorers: J Corrigan 0-3 (1F), D Donaghy 1-0, N Grimes 0-2 (1F), C O’Neill 0-2 (2F), D O’Neill 0-1, M Coyle 0-1