Well Done to Drumragh Integrated College, including Club Players Mark, Troy and Joe, who defeated St. John’s Dromore in the JJ Reilly Cup Final today at Clanabogan. A well deserved victory for the team which marks the first time an Integrated school has won a title under the new Ulster Schools GAA.
Danske Bank JJ Reilly Cup Final
Drumragh Integrated College 1-11 St John’s Dromore 2-7
Drumragh Integrated College were deserving champions of a tight, exciting, action packed Danske Bank JJ Reilly Cup Final held at Drumragh Sarsfields, defeating neighbours St John’s Dromore to claim their first provincial GAA title and becoming the first Integrated School in history to win the Ulster title. Well done!!!
Drumragh were the better side in the first half and should’ve scored more but hit bad wides while in good positions and conceded two goals on the break, a combination that left the teams level on 2-3 to 0-9 at the break. Drumragh’s Matthew Murnaghan fired over seven points in the opening half, four from frees. St John’s kept in the mix with a goal from Dara Monaghan in the 18th minute and then, two minutes from the break, Gary Hunter finished a good break for them with a goal to tie the sides.
Tunney edged St John’s ahead at the start of the second half, however Troy Fahy and Murnaghan put Drumragh back in the lead. The superb Murnaghan soloed through from 60 metres to crack home a brilliant shot to the roof of the net and the backs-to-the-wall battle in the last quarter in which Aaron Teague, Zach Sloane McCusker and Joe Neely were outstanding. Giving Drumragh a 1-11 to 2-5 lead in the 46th minute.
Drumragh lost Eoin Gallagher to a second yellow card and while Dromore piled on the pressure in the final 10 minutes they couldn’t take advantage against a resilient and determined Drumragh team. St. John’s managed just two points in the last 10 minutes, a free from Daley Tunney and an effort from Conor McGovern that could well have ended in the net, but Drumragh delivered to write their names into Ulster Schools’ GAA history.
Drumragh: J McGarvey, J Neely, Z Sloane McCusker, A Conaty, R Laird, A Teague, R Lowry 0-1, M Murnaghan 1-8, 0-5 frees, Daniel Monaghan 0-1, T Fahy 0-1, J Corrigan, R Murnaghan, C McCanny, E Gallagher, J Corrigan.
Subs: S Devlin for McCann (ht), M McGillion for J Corrigan (ht), M Neill for R Murnaghan (51).
St John’s: P Tunney, R McGovern, O O’Brien, P Gallagher, A Lawlor, J McCaughey, C Colton, S Garrity 0-2, C McGovern 0-1, Dara Monaghan 1-0, C Mullan, P Mitoraj, G Hunter 1-0, R Burns 0-1, D Tunney 0-3 frees.
Subs: D Love for D Monaghan (41)
