Congratulations to our very own Ciaran Mullan on playing his part in helping St. Patrick’s lift the Dalton Cup. Ciaran played midfield in the final, scoring two points.

From beneath the leaden skies of Castledawson, the Dalton Cup final was almost destined to end up back in Maghera from the moment Conor Convery won the toss. Having beaten Dungannon in last year’s final, there were few stages when you argue that they weren’t the better side in Saturday’s encounter with the convent lads.

St. Mary’s struggled physically with the size of the Maghera side. Paddy McElroy and Terence O’Brien tried their best to fight the elements and the odds but they were well beaten.

Maghera’s real strength was in defence, where Cormac O’Doherty had a sublime game, taking on and beating a succession of St. Mary’s boys tried at full forward. Meehaul McGrath and Conor Cassidy dominated at half back, while Ciaran Mullan patrolled midfield. Conor Convery was a composed figure on the ball, while the inside forward line all caused problems, particularly in a first half where the winners kicked some beautiful scores.

The two most important scores, both goals came within sixty seconds of each other towards the end of the first half. Having dominated with the wind for most of the half, Maghera were on top for most of it but with twenty five minutes gone, they led by just four points 0-07 to 0-03.

With the rain beating out of the sky, Paul Gunning and Ruairi McElwee kicked a couple of lovely scores, through Paddy McElroy gave Magherafelt some hope with a couple of scores. However, Niall Mawhinney sneaked in behind to face the whites of Dermot McGuckin’s eyes on twenty five minutes and buried the ball emphatically into the roof of the net.

Almost from the kick out, the second goal followed. Danny Tallon found himself under a breaking ball eight yards out and kept his head to poke the ball into the corner.

Conor Convery added a point before the break and from a small gap had sprouted a match – winning lead in the space of five minutes. With the score at 2-08 to 0-03, the Maghera men could hold what they had.

The second half was devoid of the same urgency as the first as Magherafelt toiled to get back into the game, but couldn’t find a way through resolute white defence.

It took St. Mary’s until the final few seconds before they actually registered back-to-back scores for the first time, but by the time young sub Nial Keenan fired over twice; the game had long since been decided.

St. Patrick's Maghera
Ciaran Mc Cloy (Glen), Paul McNeill (Slaughtneil), Cormac O’Doherty (Slaughtneil), Oisin Hegarty(Glen), Conor Cassidy(Slaughtneil), Meehaul McGrath (Slaughtneil, 0-1), Cathal Mulholland(Glen), Ciaran Mullan (Drumsurn, 0-2), Paul McAtamney (Swatragh), Peter Hagan (Bannagher), Conor Convery(Glen, 0-3), Danny Tallon (Glen, 1-0), Ruairi McElwee (Bellaghy,0-2), Niall Mawhinney (Bellaghy, 1-0), Paul Gunning (Glen, 0-2)

Subs
Odhran McGuckin (Cargin) for Paul Gunning ; Caolan McAleese (Kilrea) for Niall Mawhinney ; Sean Quinn (Swatragh), Conor McAuley (Ballinascreen), Patrick Gorman (Kilrea), Aodhan McKenna (Slaughtneil), Keelan Feeney (Slaughtneil), Niall McAtamney (Swatragh)

St. Mary's Magherafelt
Dermot McGuckin, Luke McMullan, Kieran Lynch, Conleth McGrenaghan, Danny Devlin, James Carey, Dessie McColgan, Paddy McElroy (0-3), Ruairi Donaghy, Aidan Keenan (0-1), Terence O’Brien (0-2), Thomas O’Kane, Kevin Rice, Padraig Martin (0-1), Michael McVeigh.

Subs
Paddy Duggan, Niall Keenan, Dominic Diamond, Ryan Connery, Paul Campbell, Darragh McVey, Proinsias Burke, Dylan Coyle, Ryan McCracken, Conor McAuley