Congratulations to both St Macartan’s and Patrician High School who have both reached the Danske Bank Rannafast Cup Final(u16 1/2)  scheduled for next Friday 13th November . St Macartan’s the holders beat St. Ronan’s Lurgan on Monday evening last on a scoreline of 2-9 to 1-8. Today the south Monaghan school Patrician  High School beat the hot favourites  St. Pat’s Maghera 1-11 to 1-8. Please read match reports taken from http://ulstercollegesgaa.org/   below

Sem through to second successive Rannafast final

November 2, 2015

Danske Bank Edmund Rice Rannafast Cup semi-final

St Macartan’s Monaghan 2-9 St Ronan’s Lurgan 1-8

HOLDERS St Macartan’s Monaghan are back into the Danske Bank Edmund Rice Rannafast Cup final after pulling away in the third quarter of a very entertaining semi-final in Garvaghey yesterday evening.

However the Sem were very fortunate to hold a two points’ lead at the interval after St Ronan’s had dominated the first half hour.

Rioghan Meehan opened the scoring for St Ronan’s before Emyvale’s Michael O’Brien finished a good team move with a Sem goal on six minutes.

St Ronan’s then fought back with scores from Shea Geraghty and Tiarnan Kelly, but were hit in the 16^th minute by another O’Brien goal, which was followed by a McAllister point.

During the second quarter, the Lurgan side dominated the play, but had a Geraghty goal disallowed and the same player fluffed a one-on-one with the Sem ‘keeper Eoghan Trainor. St Ronan’s did managed three points but trailed 2-2 to 0-6 at the turnover.

St Macartan’s pulled away during the third quarter with four unanswered points from defender Cormac McKenna, Paudie Meehan and two Aaron Mohan frees.

Substitute Riaghan Crawford breathed new life into the game with a Lurgan goal on 53 minutes, but they could not build on it and Robbie McAllister and Aaron Mohan kept a steady four points between the sides until the final whistle.

The Sem now play the winners of Thursday’s second semi-final between St Patrick’s Maghera and Patrician High Carrickmacross.

St Macartan’s: Eoghan Treanor; Ryan O Toole, Paudie Meehen 0-2, Cormac McKenna 0-1, Tommy Croarkin, Tiarnan McSkeane, Jamie Shields; Sean Treanor, Gavin McPhillips; Robbie McAlister 0-3, Oisin McKenna, Oisin Gleeson; Ronan King, Michael O Brien 2-0, Aaron Mohan 0-3 frees.

Sub : Cillian Woods for O McKenna (55)

St Ronan’s : Oisin Campbell, Eugene Doran, Aidan Mulholland, Jamie Lamont, Callum Magee, Jack Haddock, Adam Loughran, Jack Lenehan, Eoin McConville, Marc McAfee, Ruairi McConville, Tiernan Kelly 0-2, Rioghan Meehan 0-1, Lee Haughian 0-1, Shea Geraghty 0-3, 0-2 frees.

Subs : Riaghan Crawford 1-0 for L Haughian (38), Jaack Conlan 0-1 for E McConville, Jamie Lamont for E Doran (44).

Referee : Paul Coyle (Tyrone)

Patrician shock Maghera in Rannafast semi

November 5, 2015

Danske Bank Edmund Rice Rannafast Cup semi-final:

Patrician High Carrickmacross 1-11 St Patrick’s Maghera 1-8

A 45^th MINUTE goal from Sean Burns was the catalyst for the footballers of Patrician High Carrickmacross delivering a huge shock result in Garvaghey today and an all-Monaghan Danske Bank Edmund Rice Rannafast Cup final next weekend.

That score, which followed an excellent point from Burns off his left a minute earlier, pushed Patrician ahead by 1-9 to 0-8 and they held on to win despite a 53^rd minute goal from Lorcan McWilliams and five minutes of added time.

It was this Maghera team’s first defeat in their Ulster Colleges’ football career that had already delivered four cups at under-age level.

But Carrickmacross fully deserved to be playing their neighbours St Macartan’s in the final next weekend, because they took the game to the favourites from the off and were never headed during an absorbing game that was in doubt right until the final whistle.

Players such as Andrew Woods, Odhran Martin, Barry Kearns and goal-scorer Burns stood out in a tremendous team performance that negated Maghera, keeping them outside the scoring range.

Woods, Jack McMahon and Ciaran McNulty gave Carrick a great start with points each in the opening ten minutes, but Maghera pulled it back to 0-4 each over the next ten.

Just before the break however Andrew Woods picked off his third point and Carrick led by 0-7 to 0-6.

Although Oisin Wilcox added a point on the re-start, points from Alex Doherty and Richie Mullan levelled the argument at 0-8 each.

The next scores were a point and then the goal, both from Sean Burns, to put Patrician in the driving seat, with Andrew Woods from play making it 1-10 to 0-8 in the 50^th minute.

Maghera hit back with their goal from Lorcan McWilliams, but they couldn’t close the gap further and Liam óg Murray stretched Patrician’s lead to three points, with the defence securing the victory in the last eight scoreless minutes of play.

Patrician : Sean Burns 1-1, Andrew Woods 0-4, 0-3 frees, Oisin Wilcox 0-2, Jack McMahon 0-1, Ciaran McNulty 0-1, Barry Kierans 0-1, Liam óg Murray 0-1.

St Patrick’s : Lorcan McWilliams 1-2, Alex Doherty 0-2, Richie Mullan 0-1, Odhran McGarry 0-1, Tiarnan McHugh 0-1, Daire Rafferty 0-1.