Omagh Into Hogan Final

Saturday 25.02.2023

Omagh CBS 4-14 Naas CBS 0-7

Omagh turned on the style at St.Tiernachs Park in Clones on Saturday afternoon as they produced a superb display to comfortably get the better of holders Naas CBS and qualify for their first Hogan Cup Final since 2007.

 

The Tyrone lads had the wind at their backs in the first half but Naas would have been reasonably happy to be only four points adrift at the end of the opening quarter. An opening goal from Ruairi McCullagh though gave Omagh a massive boost and in the final nine minutes of the half they tagged on 2-5 without reply with their other goal coming from Liam Og Mossey to leave them in complete control.

 

Ahead by 2-10 to 0-1 at the break the winners picked up where they left off on the restart as Conor Owens and Caolan Donnelly both found the net inside six minutes of the restart and while Naas battled to the final whistle they were always fighting a losing battle.

 

McCullagh set the tone with the opening score inside thirty seconds before Owens and defender Nathan Farry added to their advantage. Carl Lennox opened the Kildare school’s account from a 10^th minute free but that proved to be their only score of the opening period. McCullagh and midfielder Charlie Donnelly tagged on points before Donnelly supplied the pass for McCullagh to drill the ball low to the net in the 21^st minute.

 

Impressive full forward Owens pointed with his left and then his right before team Captain Eoin McElholm sent Mossey through the middle and the corner forward made no mistake as he blasted the ball to the net past keeper Fintan Quinn.

 

Four minutes into the second half Owens burst past three challenges to finish in style to the net and two minutes later half back Donnelly got forward to get his side’s fourth major of the afternoon. Naas CBS were shell shocked but they finally began to play some of the football that they are capable of as Cian Boran and Ryan Sinkey both took eye catching scores.

 

Lorcan McCullagh blasted over with another goal chance for Omagh before Naas enjoyed a productive spell that yielded points from Sinkey, Lennox and midfielder Tom Kelly. Omagh substitute Niall McCarney then weighed in with an outstanding point with the outside of his boot and that was followed by scores from McElholm and Mossey. Naas had the final score of the game from Sinkey but it’s Omagh who go through to the Hogan Cup Final on St.Patrick’s Day where they will face Summerhill College from Sligo.

 

 

Scorers for Omagh CBS: Conor Owens 1-4 (1f), Ruairi McCullagh 1-2 (1f), Liam Og Mossey 1-1, Caolan Donnelly 1-0, Charlie Donnelly 0-2, Eoin McElholm 0-2, Nathan Farry 0-1, Lorcan McCullagh 0-1, Niall McCarney 0-1

 

Scorers for Naas CBS: Ryan Sinkey 0-3, Carl Lennox 0-2 (2f), Cian Boran 0-1, Tom Kelly 0-1