Abbey VS suffer defeat in Loch An Iuir final against excellent Carrickmore side

For the second day in-a-row, Abbey VS tasted defeat as they went down to a very good Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore side in the final of the Loch An Iuir (U-14½)  final at Garvaghey.

Abbey VS 3-6
Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore 1-15

The margin was the same as in the Rafferty Cup 24 hours earlier against St Pius X, Magherfelt, but two penalties in the final minutes of this game put a flattering look on the scoreboard for the Donegal Town college, who found the going very tough in the second half.

They had turned over at half-time three points in arrears but laboured for much of the second period, not adding to their interval score until four minutes from the end of normal time.

Abbey VS pictured before the game Picture: Thomas Gallagher

They were up against a top side in Dean Maguirc, who had excellent footballers in the form of Ciaran  McChrystal, Lorcan Meenagh, Sean Donnelly and Vincent Gormley.

Donnelly and Gormley were on top form in the opening minutes, firing over two points each by the eighth minute.

Abbey were back in the game a minute later when Tomas Carr found Daire Slevin and he cut on to his left to chip the Carrickmore 'keeper with a delightful finish.

The Donegal Town boys were back on level terms on 12 minutes when Slevin was fouled and Carr pointed the free.

The response from Dean Maguirc was swift with three quick points from Vincent Gormley (free), Micheal McCallan and Dan Heagney.

Abbey matched the Carrickmore side from there to half-time with Thomas Leneghan adding two points (one free) while Thomas McHugh and Gethin Mosby had other scores.

Vincent Gormley had a point from a free but the Abbey were dealt a severe setback when Marcus Conway got in for a goal for Dean Maguirc which left the half-time score: Abbey VS 1-5, Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore 1-8.

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There was stalemate in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with Carrickmore unable to convert their possession into scores. Abbey were limited to sporadic raids and even then, not being able to make the ball stick.

Dean Maguirc began to find the range and they rattled off six points to go nine clear (1-14 to 1-5) by the 52nd minute. Lorcan Meenagh (free and play), Vincent Donnelly (free), Sean Donnelly and Braydan McNally (free) got their scores.

Thomas Leneghan converted a free after Gethin Mosby was hauled back while bearing down on goal, but Vincent Donnelly cancelled that score two minutes from time.

There was to be some drama in the final minutes as firstly a Tomas Carr free from 13m was touched on the ground and a penalty awarded. Carr found the corner of the net from the spot.

Two minutes into added time a free was dropped into the square and Tomas Carr was fouled as he went for goal. He stepped up to fire home the second penalty to cut the lead to three, but the referee blew immediately for the final time.

There was no argument with the result as Dean Maguirc were the better team. The level of intensity between the sides was a factor, as it is between most contests between Donegal and northern colleges.

Tomas Carr was rarely allowed possession without three or four pulling at him; Darragh Reilly showed  up well  at centre-half while Dáire Slevin was the best of the front six.

Abbey VS scorers: Tomas Carr 2-1,2-0pen,1f; Daire Slevin 1-0; Thomas Leneghan 0-3,2f; Gethin Mosby, Thomas McHugh 0-1 each.

Dean Maguirc scorers: Vincent Gormley 0-6,4f; Sean Donnelly 0-3; Marcus Conway 1-0; Lorcan Meenagh 0-2,1f; Dan Heagney, Micheal McCallan, Phelim McGrory, Braydan McNally (f) 0-1 each.

Abbey VS: Liam Slattery; Odhran McMullin, Jack McGroarty, Dylan Doherty; Thomas Healy, Darragh Reilly, Alex McMullin; Tomas Carr, Conor Griffin; Rory Doherty, Ben Murphy, Daire Slevin; Thomas McHugh, Gethin Mosby, Thomas Leneghan. Subs: Finn Gillespie for R Doherty (35); Jamie  Ward for T Healy (51)

Dean Maguirc, Carrickmore: Tarlach Tracey; Ruairi Daly, Seanog Harte, Bradan Teague; Cal McAleer, Ciaran McCrystal, Dan Heagney; Lorcan Meenagh, Micheal McCallan; Marcus Conway, Phelim McCrory, Finbar Donaghy; Braydan McNally, Sean Donnelly, Vincent Gormley. Subs: Conan O'Brien for R Daly (ht); Donnacha Cunningham for C O'Brien (57).

Referee: Niall McKenna (Monaghan)