Abbey Vocational School power past Cathair Dhoire and into MacRory Cup quarter-final

The Abbey Vocational School are still alive and kicking following their dominant display in Convoy on Friday afternoon which now sees them through to the last eight in the MacRory Cup competition following a 10-point win over Cathair Dhoire in Convoy. 

The pre-game chat was centred around this game possibly being a step too far for the Derry amalgamated team and bar a few dangerous attacking moves, particularly from Jude Bryson inside, the Donegal Town school ran riot and could’ve potentially put up a bigger scoreline on a different day. 

The AVS boosted eight different scorers on the day, with Theo Colhoun’s first-half goal giving the Donegal team the leading space they wanted, while Kevin Muldoon’s 39th-minute screamer put the game to bed. 

The key for Cathair Dhoire was to stay with the AVS for as long as possible, as they formed a blanket of white jerseys around their defence to prevent goals, but that only worked for about 10 minutes when Christopher McCullagh responded to Tomás Carr and Conor McCahill’s early points. 

There was an excellent array of vision from the Abbey side to either spot the runners inside or have the ability to break the defensive lines.  

Oisin Brogan added his name to the scoresheet with a fisted score only after Theo Colhoun raised the first green flag of the day when he was found unmarked at the far post, looked to attempt a point, but instead lobbed the Cathair Dhoire to put the ball into the top corner of the net. 

At this point, half-back Bryson was moved into the full-forward position and linked up well with Cathal Deery, with the former finding space to kick over two points, while the latter added his name to the scoresheet too. 

But the Abbey were never in doubt, with Cathair Dhoire failing to stay with the AVS forwards, giving them far too much space to capitalise, highlighted through Oisin Doherty, Eoghan Gallagher, Muldoon, and Turlough Carr all raising white flags. 

Tomás Carr at this point was head and shoulders above the rest on the field, with his vision to spot a running player paramount in these Abbey scores.  

Gallagher had the last play of the half when he was caught unmarked inside and attempted for a goal, but the ball went too high and hit off the post as both sides marched to the dressing room at the break, with the Donegal Town side leading on a 1-8 to 0-6 point scoreline. 

Cathair Dhoire tried to narrow the gap by having the majority of possession in the opening phases of the second half, but couldn’t find any suitable shots to put away, with great credit going to the Abbey defence. 

Muldoon was leading the way in the final 30 minutes, alongside Turlough Carr, by beating defenders with ease. 

This was highlighted in the 39th minute when Muldoon dropped the shoulder, bypassed three Cathair Dhoire defenders and placed the ball into the bottom corner of the net, shooting from inside the ‘D’. 

Cathair Dhoire were playing second fiddle at this point and could only register three points in this half with Deery nailing two, while Bryson kicked the other. They nearly had a goal midway through the second half, but Eoghan O’Neill and Ethan McCrea did excellent in stopping the ball on the line after a great Lewis McCaughan save. 

At the other end, McCahill found himself free inside with two goal chances one-on-one, with one edging wide, while the other was fantastically saved by Liam Meenan in the nets. 

But it never stopped the Abbey’s run with Doherty hitting three points in this half while Tomás Carr kicked two super long-range points to spread the gap to 10 and push the Abbey Vocational School into the quarter-final of the MacRory Cup.  

Abbey Vocational School scorers: Kevin Muldoon 1-1; Oisin Doherty 0-4, 1f; Tomás Carr 0-3, 1’45’; Theo Colhoun 1-0; Conor McCahill 0-2, 1f; Eoghan Gallagher, Turlough Carr, Oisin Brogan 0-1 each. 
Cathair Dhoire scorers: Jude Bryson 1f, and Cathal Deery 1f, 0-3 each; Christopher McCullough 0-2; Tiernan McFeely 0-1. 

Abbey Vocational School: Lewis McCaughan; Eoghan O’Neill, Aidan Quinn, Alan McHugh; Cian Gavigan, Patrick McGonagle, Oisin Brogan; Tiarnán McBride, Theo Colhoun; Tomás Carr, Turlough Carr, Oisin Doherty; Conor McCahill, Eoghan Gallagher, Kevin Muldoon. Subs: Ethan McCrea for McHugh (37); Kevin Rose and Darragh Griffin for Brogan and Gallagher (both 50). 

Cathair Dhoire: Liam Meenan; Conor O’Donnell, Ronan Canavan, Fergal Cutliffe; Conaill Campbell, Jamie Mullan, Jude Bryson; Somhairle McFadden, Oran Donnelly; Lorcan Doherty, Tiernan McFeely, Christopher McCullagh; Taidhg Coyle, Cathal Deery, Caoimhin Wray. Subs: Joel Bryson for Campbell (HT); John Paul McCafferty and Oisin Molloy for O’Donnell and Doherty (both 37); Kevin Mooney for Wray (50); Matthew James for McFadden (56). 

Referee: Anthony McCallig (Naomh Ultan)