Weakened St Columba's come up short in Casement Shield final

Decimated St Columba’s produced a fine second half comeback but just came up short against a Dan O’Connor-inspired St Michael’s in an entertaining affair at Garvaghey on Wednesday.

The Twin Town sides were minus several regulars, including the injured Jacob Malone and Adam Byrne, while two other key players were unable to play because of football commitments.

But despite this major handicap, they rallied well as they trailed at half time on a score of 1-10 to 0-7 to whittle the lead back to a single point by as the winners led by 1-11 to 0-13 ten minutes from time.

However, totally against the run of play, O’Connor got his side’s second goal and that gave St Michael’s the momentum to see out the game.

St Michael’s, who were minus Dara Donnelly, had a dream start when O’Connor finished a lightning move to the Columba’s net after 70 seconds.

It was all St Michael’s and he added three quick points before Dylan Patton and Dan Donnelly opened St Columba’s account in the eighth minute as the Fermanagh college led by 1-3 to 0-3 after 12 minutes.

St Michael’s were on top in midfield and O’Connor and the gritty Sean McEvoy made it 1-6 to 0-3, before St Columba’s Dara Byrne responded for the Stranorlar side.

The magical O’Connor and Patton swapped points as the game entered the final quarter.

Dara Donegan and Oisin Morris were also on target for the winners with Patton and the powerful Conor Gallagher left St Michael’s leading by 1-10 to 0-7 at the break.

The Twin Towns lads looked a lot livelier on the restart, with Gallagher hitting two snappy points.

St Columba’s were now on top with the inevitable O’Connor hitting the target in the 41st minute.

Gallagher was becoming a commanding figure along with St Columba’s full back Shay Bradley and points from Gallagher and Patton from frees had St Michael’s only leading by 1-11 to 0-13.

But cometh the crisis, and cometh O’Connor, as he chased a long ball over the top and tapped the sliotar to the empty net.

This was a crucial score as it gave St Michael’s a precious cushion of four points.

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That goal re-ignited the Fermanagh lads, and Patton got the last St Columba’s point, while Donegan, O’Connor and McEvoy got the final scores for the winners.

St Michael’s scorers: Dan O’Connor 2-8,6f; Dara Donegan 0-2: Sean McEvoy 0-2; Oisin Morris 0-1; Aodhan Maguire 0-1.

St Columba’s scorers: Dylan Patton 0-7f; Conor Gallagher 0-4f; Dara Byrne 0-2; Jamie Gallen 0-1.

St Michael’s: Conall McGrath; Alex Corrigan, Conor McCorry, Oisin Morris; Ben Palmer, Ryan McCann, Niall Smyth; Ronan Brennan, James Kelly; Aodhan Maguire, Ronan Fitzpatrick, Dara Donegan; Sean McEvoy, Mchael Cleary, Dan O’Connor. 

Subs: Owen McTernan for Michael Cleary.

St Columba’s: Fionn McNulty; Killian Rushe, Shay Bradley, Oran Cannon; Patrick McElhinney, Conor Gallagher, Lorcan Byrne; Ryan McConnell, Rory Doherty; Jamie Gallen, Dara Byrne, Sean Óg Hannigan; Dylan Patton, Liam Gallen, Dan Donnelly. 

Subs: Jamie Fallon for Liam Gallen, Matthew Dowds for Ryan McConnell (53)

Referee: Ciaran McLaughlin (Tyrone)