St Paul's fall in McDevitt Cup decider

St Paul’s (Lurgan) 4-4

THE dream of the under 14 footballers of St Paul’s JH School of bringing the Ulster Bank McDevitt Cup to Lurgan ended in tatters in Omagh.

They succumbed to the better finishing of the Down Champions, who collected their eighth title. It must be said however, that the Lurgan side will look back on the game as one they should and possibly could have won, but poor decision making and even poorer finishing, plus the fact that they never reached the heights of their semi-final win over Ballygawley, saw them fall by three points.

Played in bright sunshine, it was the Lurgan side who gained early possession, but ominously gave the ball away, and soon found themselves a point behind when Warrenpoint captain, Conor Doyle shot over the bar.

Settled by a point from Niall O’Neill, St Paul’s brought their large group of supporters to their feet, when Caolan Skelton finished off a move, instigated by O’Neill, and added to by Ruairi Loughran, to the back of the Warrenpoint net.

In a brief bout of superiority, the Down men quickly added two goals and a point to their total; the first from full forward, Joseph Morgan, their second from Doyle, with Tiernan Rush adding a point, after fourteen minutes.

With the exception of a breakaway point from Cathal Rooney, it was the Lurgan boys who were in the ascendency, thanks to the excellent defensive displays of Aaron Casey and Ryan McEvoy plus the moving of Shea Heffron to midfield, and were soon level with a second Skelton goal and an O’Neill point.

Their superiority was emphasised when Stephen Toland collected a goal and a point and O’Neill collected his third, but worryingly, many other chances went a begging as they finished the half, leading by 3-4 to 2-3.

The second half was, as far as the Armagh Champions were concerned, one to forget.

Warrenpoint rallied thanks to their midfield diamond of Rooney, Doyle, Gareth Caulfield and Aaron Butterfield, which yielded two points with scores from Doyle and Tiarnan Rush,and although a spectacular James McDade goal stretched their lead in the ninth minute, sadly, that was to be their final score.

Two points from Doyle and Paul Lively, and a fortuitous goal by Harrison McQuillan, when the initial lob came off the bar, reduced the margin to one, saw the sides level, and then in the eighteenth minute, midfielder, Gareth Caulfield shot them ahead.

For the next ten minutes, St Paul’s controlled the game on everywhere but the scoreboard. They shot six wides, passed poorly on occasions, and were the victim of some questionable refereeing decisions, but try as they would, the points failed to appear, despite the entrance, and good play of substitutes, Cailin Webb, Matthew Mulholland and Jamie McGleenon.

In contrast, Doyle added to his total, Morgan completed the scoring and St Mark’s entered the record books as they moved ahead of Ballygawley with their eighth title.

Scorers: St Mark’s: C Doyle (1-4), J Morgan (1-1) H McQuillan (1-0), C Ferran, C Rooney, P Lively, G Caulfield, T Rush (0-1each)

St Paul’s: C Skelton (2-0), S Toland (1-1), N O’Neill (0-3)

Substitutes: St Paul’s; C Webb for McCann, M Mulholland for McAtavey, J McGleenon for Skelton.