Down 1-5
St. Mary's 0-8

Down progressed to face Derry in the last four of the McKenna Cup, despite being surprisingly held to a draw by St. Mary's at Pairc Esler last night.

Having easily accounted for Armagh and Monaghan in their first two outings, James McCartan's men were expected to make light work of the students, but showing a number of changes in personnel from last Sunday's win over Monaghan, they had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Newcomers Niall McParland and Ciaran Brannigan shot early points for the Mournemen who went on to lead by 1-4 to 0-3 at the break after John McAreavey set up Kalum King for the only goal on the stroke of half-time. It was King's third goal in two games.

Down, however, were extremely wasteful - racking up a criminal 19 wides over the 70 minutes - and this wastefulness came back to haunt them when former Down player Ronan Sexton landed two late points for the students to tie up the game.

Down - B McVeigh; N Branigan, L Doyle, K Anderson; N McParland (0-1), M Doran, D McKibbon; A Rodgers, D O'Higgins; K King (1-0), M Poland, J McAreavey; C Brannigan (0-2), A McConville (0-1), E McCartan (0-1). Subs: C Gough for Rodgers; A Branigan for Doyle; M Miskelly for McAreavey; R Brady for McCartan; A Carr for McConville.

St Mary's - R McAnenly; R Lynch, D McBride, S Mullan; C O'Hara, N Sludden, S McKenna; N Donnelly, B Doyle; D McCusker (0-2), R Sexton (0-2), R O'Callaghan; B Herron (0-2), J Gilmore, E Bradley (0-2). Subs: C McMahon for O'Callaghan; T Canavan for Gilmore; M Slane for Lynch.

Ref - F Cleary (Fermanagh). Tweet

Most Read Stories