Understrength Abbey VS bow out of Loch an Iuír at semi-final stage

Abbey VS, Donegal Town came up short in the Loch an Iuír (U-14½) semi-final against a well-drilled St Paul's, Bessbrook at the Tyrone Centre of Excellence in Garvaghey.

Abbey VS 0-7
St Paul's, Bessbrook 2-9

Abbey had racked up a big score in the quarter-final but they had to line out without their captain Conor McCahill as well as a few others and in the end the Armagh school closed out the game in the dying minutes with a second goal from a penalty.

Abbey were under the cosh in the opening 10 minutes but their defence held firm while St Paul's hit five wides. They were coming back into the contest when they were hit with a goal on the stroke of the first half water break from Bessbrook's best player, Shea Loughran.

Prior to that Abbey had matched the Armagh boys with the score standing at 0-2 each. Ronan Martin had opened the scoring on 11 minutes from a free but almost immediately Josh Cullen won and pointed a free at the other end. Daithi O'Callaghan hit a second point for St Paul's, but Eoin Gallagher cancelled that score after a great run, winning and pointing a free.

The Donegal Town boys almost went ahead on 17 minutes when a speculative effort from Tomás Carr was allowed to hop and it came back off the Bessbrook side's crossbar and there was a scramble which resulted in a '45'. Then came the Loughran goal which put daylight between the sides at the water break.

But Abbey did well again after the break with Josh Cullen pointing a free, but it was cancelled by a St Paul's score from Odhran McCann.

Abbey finished the half well with Eoin Gallagher almost breaking the St Paul's line. He won a free which Jack Glappa pointed. And a minute into added time midfielder Patrick Craig broke forward to fire over with his left and leave just a point in it at the break - Abbey VS 0-5, St Paul's 1-3.

St Paul's had their best period in the third quarter as they stretched the lead out to five points. Shea Loughran hit two while Keane McArdle added a third, which was tipped over by Abbey VS 'keeper Lewis McCaughan.

Abbey hit back and had the ball in the St Paul's net when Eoin Gallagher connected with a Cullen free, but the referee ruled it for Gallagher being in the square before the ball.

They were punished harshly three minutes later when Aidan Quinn, who had a storming game at full-back, was penalised even though there were three St Paul's players pulling at him.

Eoin Gallagher cut the leeway to four from a free and Tomás Carr had an effort for goal blocked just before the second half water break.

A strong 70-metre run from Aidan Quinn yielded a free for Abbey which Josh Cullen converted on 50 minutes, but that would prove to be their last score.

They did have one half goal chance but St Paul's pulled away with Calvin Mooney pointing and in the 59th minute they won a penalty which Shea Loughran finished well. Loughran would add the final point a minute into second half added time.
Abbey VS manager, Tommy McCaffrey, was proud of the way his side fought to the end. "Our defence worked really hard in the opening quarter and we were in the game until the penalty near the end.

"It was tough coming here without our captain Conor McCahill and a few others. We did have the ball in the net but the referee deemed he was in the square although I thought he followed the ball in," said McCaffrey, who told his team in the huddle after the game that they should aim at winning the competition at U-16 level in two year's time.

"It is a great learning experience for them coming up against top teams," he said, adding that they probably lacked a good test prior to the semi-final.

There were some top class performers for Abbey, none less than Aidan Quinn at full-back; Kian Gavigan, Patrick Craig, Tomás Carr, Eoin Gallagher and Jack Glappa tried hard with Josh Cullen having a great battle with St Paul's full-back Gavin O'Rourke.

ABBEY VS, DONEGAL: Lewis McCaughan; Eoin Kennedy, Aidan Quinn, Dylan McGrory; Patrick McGonagle, Kian Gavigan, Eoin O'Neill; Patrick Craig (0-1), Tomás Carr; Jamie Ward, Eoin Gallagher (0-2,2f), Jack Bennett; Jack Glappa (0-1,f), Josh Cullen (0-2,2f), Gettin Mosby. Sub: Ethan McCrea for Kennedy ht. Rest of panel: Rory Doherty, Patrick Gallagher, John Farren, Dylan Doherty, Lewis McCalmont, Alex McMullin, Jack McGroarty.

ST PAUL'S, BESSBROOK: Aodhan Lamph; Killian Murphy, Gavin O'Rourke, Micheal Kane; Sean Trainor, Conor Dunne, Tomas Fox; Daithi O'Callaghan (0-1), Shane McParland; Calvin Mooney (0-1), Shea Loughran (2-4,1-0 pen), Ronan Martin (0-1,f); Keane McArdle (0-1), Darragh O'Hagan, Julian Carr. Sub: Odhran McCann (0-1) for D O'Hagan.

REFEREE: Martin Conroy (Tyrone)