Mc Greevy Cup Hurling

First and Second Year Ulster Hurling Blitz

 The hurling season re-started for the new school year on Wednesday 15^th Of September. The venue for the blitz was O’Neill Park, Clontibret. The teams participating in the Blitz included St Pauls of Bessbrook, Carrickmacross A & B’s, Crossmaglen and of course The Sem.  The two top teams would then progress to the next qualifying stage of the Ulster B Cup, the Mc Greevy Cup.

St.Macartan’s first opponents were Crossmaglen. Darragh Hughes got The Sem off to a good start with a goal and a point, other stand-out performances came from Mark Murphy  in corner forward and Ciaran Cassidy at full forward who helped us to a convincing 5-6 to 0-0 victory.

Next up were Carrickmacross A’s.  This encounter between the two Monaghan rivals had a very tight start with only a solitary point scored at the half way mark, coming from a dead ball off the hurl of  Dónal McElvaney. In the second half resolute defending by Niall Myers, Matthew Flood and Darren Sherlock helped the Sem lads pull away to emerge victors on a score line of 1-4 to 0-0

Carrickmacross’s second string were the next opponents for the Sem boys. Liam Quinn, Conor Flynn & James Mc Kenna had an influential impact on this match as they steered the team to a 3^rd consecutive victory.

Bessbrook, another unbeaten side were the final team St. Macartan’s would come up against on the day. The Sem started strong with a cracking penalty from Ciaran Cassidy which rattled the top corner. A free from Conor Flynn along with another goal from Mark Murphy and hard work by Pauric Murphy gave St. Macartan’s a score line of 2-3 to 0-0 at half-time, putting them in a seemingly comfortable position. However, from the beginning of the second half a strong wind put our boys on the back foot. Good defending from James McKenna kept Bessbrook at bay for a while. Unfortunately the powerful Bessbrook midfield finally earned them a goal.  Not settling for that, Bessbrook managed to rack up a further 2-2 before the close of the half. Even though our boys fought hard they didn’t manage a score in the second half, eventually loosing out by a close two points.

All was not lost however as The Sem still finished as overall second in the blitz. This meant another push towards Mc Greevy Cup Qualification in Cookstown against the other top teams qualifying from around Ulster.

                                                                                                                                Daire Mc Keown – 4^th Year

Squad: Darragh Boyle, Pauric Duffy, Mark Murphy, Reece Treanor, Conor Flynn, Emmet Campbell, Liam Quinn, Ruairí Forde, Paul Peppard, Darragh Hughes, Conor Lynch, Paul Treanor, Conor Moen, Aaron Mc Guigan, Darren Sherlock, James Mc Kenna, Ciarán Cassidy, Niall Myers, James O’Neill, Matthew Flood, Dónal Mc Elvaney. (21)

Ulster Colleges Junior B Winners 2009

St. Macartan’s Vs. Loreto College

Report by: Jonathon Bannon.

On the 24^th of September the St.Macartan’s team travelled up to Cookstown where they were to play their first game of the B-league.

The SEM had a great line out again this week with only two new additions to the team which were Jonathan McKenna, Jamie Cassidy and Francis Lynch. The Colraine team- Loreto College-lined out what looked to be a very strong team which included three or four brave looking girls and many tall boys who were ready to battle for the points. The SEM boys too looked brave as they had just been crowned the Ulster Champions of the C-league.

The match started with the Colraine team advancing goal wards with the young St.Macartan’s players finding it hard to get at all near the sliotar but luckily Tommy Lynch came to the rescue and got the ball clear into the path of Cathal McAnespie who managed to land the sliotar right in the hand of Micky O’Dowd who punished the Loreto team by scoring a beautiful point from the 30 yard line.

Loreto then replied to that point by smashing the ball past the baffled Daire Quinn and into the back of the net. Micky O’Dowd then got the ball from Kevin nd ran for the goal which resulted in him getting a lot of space and he easily poc’d the ball over the bar. The SEM then got lucky when Loreto hit the sliotar at goal but it went just wide of the post. Loreto got many shots at goal in this 1^st period but thanks to the St.Macartan’s goalie no more than one goal was conceded. Just before half time Loreto scored an easy point which made the half time score 1-1 to 2 points in favour of Colraine.

The second half started with a change in positions but no subs were yet made .The game was a bit scrappy with a lot of players going for the ball at the same time but suddenly out of nowhere Micky O’Dowd lifted the sliotar and poc’d the ball just over the bar to shorten the Loreto lead to only 1 point. As Loreto only had 15 players in total SEM loaned a player to the Loreto side to make the teams even again after a Loreto Player picked up an injury. Straight after that change was made the SEM scored two more points in quick succession now putting them ahead by a point.

Two substitutes were then made when Ciaran Mc Geough and Emmett O’Neill were replaced by Jamie Cassidy and Francis Lynch. Loreto then made a hopeful attack but a mistake made by the full forward caused the ball to slip to Thomas Lynch who cleared the sliotar far up the pitch. Cathal Mc Anespie got the ball and annoyed the defenders with brilliant running. The ball was then passed in front of the sub Jamie Cassidy who made no mistake in becoming super sub by scoring a great goal. Less than two minutes later the super sub really showed how super he was by scoring his second goal of the match. Francis Lynch then had a chance but unfortunately his brave effort did not hit the target. The referee blew the final whistle which caused a great eruption of cheering among the SEM team. With thanks to the two teams who played a great game of hurling and the referee John Devlin (pomeroy).The final score was 1-1 to 2-5 in favour of the SEM.

St.Macartan’s team: Michael O’Dowd, Daire Quinn, Ciaran Mc Quaid (Captain), James Keelaghan, Emmett O’Neill, Francis Lynch, Daniel Murphy, Enda Mc Aloon, Caolan Mc Carney, Martin Moen, Chris Hughes, Thomas Lynch, Killian Lavelle, Ciaran Mc Geough, Colin Todd, Jamie Cassidy, Cathal Mc Anespie, Kevin O Luachrain, Dermott O Leary and Conor O Neill.

St. Macartan's College Hurling Team 2007