Danske Bank MacLarnon Cup final
St Joseph's, Donaghmore 4-10 Rathmore 1-3
A STORMING second-half performance from St Joseph's, Donaghmore, saw them claim their first-ever MacLarnon Cup at the expense of Rathmore at a packed-out Queen's Arena on Friday evening in impressive fashion.

The Tyrone school bagged four goals after the break when they had completely taken charge of this game that was level at the break.

There had been signs they were about to cut loose in the second quarter as they began to dominate the ball if not the scoreboard, but when Noah Grimes found the net five minutes after the restart, the Donaghmore outfit took a vice-like grip on this final and never looked like they would let go.

Their win was built on a dominant midfield showing as they controlled the skies and turned the Belfast side over countless times and although they faced strong defending, they had that bit of quality to find the scores.

In fairness, their first three goals - as well as Rathmore's in the opening minutes - did all have a slice of luck attached with the first and second the result of shots off the post that broke kindly and the third a free that went all the way into the net, but leaving those aside, they just upped it a gear in the second period that Rathmore couldn't deal with.

The Belfast team was full of endeavour and gave all they had, but it just wasn't to be their night as their quest for a first MacLarnon title continues.

"Three unlucky goals and we just didn't take out opportunities," said Rathmore coach, Donal McKernan.

"We could have had lucky goals too but they just didn't fall our way. (There were) a few wayward shots down at the Malone Road end (in the first half) and it could have been a different story at half-time if we were four or five up.

"The boys stuck to the game plan in the first half and we were where we wanted to be, but in the second half, Donaghmore showed the level they can go to and they went through the gears.

"In sport, there are teams that can go up another level and Donaghmore did that, even the guys that came off the bench for them."

Rathmore couldn't have asked for a better start as after a decent early spell of possession they won a free with Rory McErlean's shot dropping and breaking out to Garrett Cowan who volleyed to the net despite the best efforts of Donaghmore goalkeeper Leo Quinn on three minutes.

The Belfast boys would fail to add to this until first-half stoppage time, but they did threaten further goals early on with Quinn stopping Michael Morgan's shot when off balance

The pace of Rathmore's Sé Ferris was causing the Tyrone side issues early, while McErlean was pulling the strings and pumping some quality ball on top of Morgan.

One of those almost led to a goal as the full-forward got possession on the right and played in Cowan, but off-balance, his scuffed shot was stopped and cleared on the line.

Donaghmore had opened with the aim of going long early, but the Rathmore defence was doing a solid job and they were to snuff out Darragh Donaghy after a quick break saw Mattie McNally pop him in.

The Tyrone side passed up a couple of early chances but finally got off the mark on 17 minutes with Cormac Drayne kicking a free and he added another from play soon after before Donaghy spun and scored to level on 22 minutes.

Sé Ferris put in a fine performance for Rathmore
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Sé Ferris put in a fine performance for Rathmore

Donaghmore were dominating the middle and possession with Rathmore struggling to get on the front foot by this point, but they were defending stoutly until a decent move saw Mattie McNally break and pass into Joey Clarke who opted for the point.

Rathmore had a little spell just before the break and they made the most of it with a free converted by McErlean as the sides went in at the break level, 1-1 to 0-4.

However, Donaghmore simply upped it a gear from the restart with Darragh Donaghy curling over within seconds and Cormac Drayne thumping over off the outside of his boot soon after.

Their first goal arrived on 35 minutes and as said, there was an element of good fortune as Drayne's shot from a free game down off the post and in the ensuing scramble, Noah Grimes poked home.

McErlean hit back with the pointed free, but the response fm Donaghmore was of the highest quality as a quick free was pumped long to Conn Sweeney who had just been introduced as a substitute and from out on the left wing off his left boot, he swung over the point of the night.

Joey Clarke landed off the outside of his boot to extend the gap to six with another McErlean free the reply.

Rathmore had a decent five-minute spell but couldn't engineer scores that would have kept them right in this game, but a score that typified this Donaghmore performance came as they once again won an aerial battle from a kick-out with Conor O'Neill galloping forward to score.

The second goal would arrive on 52 minutes and like the first, came as a shot - this time from Grimes - come off the post with Drayne this time the scorer as he collected and lashed home.

The third major followed soon after with Darragh Donaghy's free deceiving Kajetan Dobrowolski in the Rathmore goal and ending up in the net and in stoppage time, another powerful run from O'Neill saw him thump home to put further gloss on the board.

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Grimes would have the final say as Rathmore continued to battle and look for goals, but it wouldn't fall for them and while disappointed, will reflect on the steps taken this year and with a young team, many will hope to go further in the future.

"It wasn't our day, but there are a lot of the boys are four, fifth, lower sixth (year) and I said to them that sometimes it takes you to lose one before you win one," McKernan added.

"People know where Rathmore is now, know the culture and tradition of the GAA in Rathmore, so the jersey is left in a better place after tonight."

DONAGHMORE: L Quinn; J McNally, B Hughes, D Donaghy (1-2, 1-0 free); J Rafferty, J Clarke (0-2), C O'Neill (1-1); S Scullion, J McKenna; L Hughes, N Grimes (1-1), MJ Mansell; C Drayne (1-3, 0-1 free), M McNally, R Molloy.
Subs: C Sweeney (0-1) for MJ Mansell (37), C Donaghy for C Drayne (53), E O'Neill for D Donaghy (55), J Field for J McNally (57)

RATHMORE: K Dobrowolski; C Devlin, D Mooney, M Lloyd; T Lloyd, C Logue, S Ferris; R Grant, O Arthurs; D McGurk, R McErlean (0-3, all frees), O Conlon; G Cowan (1-0), M Morgan, F O'Boyle.
Subs: S Doyle for M Lloyd (HT), R Smyth for G Cowan (HT), C Blaney for O Arthurs (39), D Martin for D Mooney (52), S McCarthy for R Grant (52)

REFEREE: Kevin Fallon (Armagh)