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Sat 20th Mar 2010
BT Casement Cup final : Monday 1 pm in Glenarriffe :
St MacNissi’s Garron Tower v St Patrick’s Armagh.
It should have taken place a full five months ago, but difficulties arose around the fixture just before the Halloween break and the BT Casement Cup final was delayed. It will eventually take place on Monday afternoon in Glenarriffe.
After such a lay-off from the semi-finals, there really is no form-book and it will be interesting to see how prepared both St MacNissi’s Garron Tower and St Patrick’s Armagh are for the game.
St MacNissi’s are hoping to lift their first senior hurling title since taking the Mageean Cup twice in the mid 1960s.
The school has reached the Mageean on a few occasions since – but this is their first appearance in the BT Casement Cup final.
They certainly did not look like candidates for a final spot when they collapsed to a 15 point defeat to St Patrick’s Armagh in their final league game.
However they managed to blitz a highly-rated St Patrick’s Downpatrick with four goals in the opening 10 minutes of the semi-final.
Their defence has fairly reliable with Dan Kinney since picking up a Colleges’ All-star. Sean Cosgrove and Philip McKendry have also shown up well.
However a certain looseness in the tackle resulted in Armagh’s Matthew Lennon, son of former county manager Mattie, punishing them in the league tie with 11 points from frees.
Matthew’s brother Michael and Karl Loughran, who were both part of the county minor All-Ireland winning football team, form a strong midfield partnership.
Armagh were very impressive in the league fixture between the two schools and their physical presence in key positions can put the Tower on the back foot. They also got a monkey off their back in the defeat of St Patrick's Keady in the semi-final.
Although they have lost their previous two final appearances both to Keady, this could be third time lucky.
St MacNissi’s panel : Sean O’Hare, Sean Hamilton, Sean Cosgrove, Eamon Kerr, Michael Mulvenna, Dan Kinney, Philip McKendry, Paul Monaghan, Eoghan Patterson, Conor McGarry, Dominic Sharkey, Padraig Kerr, Andrew Delargy, Eamon Heggarty, Cahir McNaughton, Martin McAfee, Karl Delargy, Dominic Delargy, Blain Stewart, Matthew White, Connlaoth McNeill, Michael Kane, Chris McCarthy, Ciaran Mulvenna, Fionntan O’Connor.
St Patrick’s Armagh panel : Michael Carson, Jack Lynch, Caolan Doyle, Peter Devlin, Adrian Mellon, Tom Marley, Damien Corvan, Michael Lennon, Karol Loughran, Ryan Gribbin, Paddy Heaney, Austin Mackle, Matthew Lennon, Pádraig Rafferty, Conor McNally, Eoin Murray, Philip Duffy, Adam Toal, John McArdle, Tiernan Donnelly, Fintan Corvan, Nathan Hawkes.
Submitted by: Seamus McAleenan
