St Malachy’s cruise into final

19 March 2025

ST Malachy’s Castlewellan have reached their first ever Corn Cholmchille football final, leaving an indelible mark on the opening half of their semi-final in Coláiste Feirste.

They led St Pius X, Magherafelt, by 5-12 to 1-2 at the break and such was their dominance, Mark McNulty was able to empty his bench during the second half and still record a resounding victory.

The squad that draws from strong underage teams in both the Kilcoo and Liatroim clubs, had five different goal-scorers in the opening half – Shea Kearney, Daithí O’Hare, Setanta Laverty, Kaolan McKay and Pádraig Bannon.

For good measure, full-forward Recko McCusker and centre-half back Aodhán McCusker added second half goals.

Jamie McDaid scored the Magherafelt goal in the first half and Fergal McCusker and Kayden Donnelly were on target in the second, but they could not cope with the movement and inter-play from the St Malachy’s outfit.

Meanwhile, St Mark’s, Warrenpoint, failed to make it a county double, losing their semi-final 4-9 to 2-7 against Holy Trinity, Cookstown.

Holy Trinity took control in the first half and led by 2-7 to a single point at half-time.

The Cookstown goals were scored by Patrick Bloomer and Tiarnán Lagan, while Caiden Martin and Liam Montgomery were dominating general play.

St Mark’s improved significantly during the second half, with goals from Conor Murtagh and Mattie O’Hare, and they had strong performances from Danny

Barry, Anthony Magennis and Darragh Murney.

However, Holy Trinity were strong enough to control the game against the breeze and they broke for further goals from Conn McKeown and Leo McCullagh, setting up a mighty final with St Malachy’s.

St Malachy’s: J McKee, A Aldridge, P McAleenan, M O’Shea, J Bannon, A McGrady, C Shields, D O’Hare, L Rice, K McKay, T Kane (captain), S Kearney, P Bannon, R McCusker, S Laverty.

Subs: K Cunningham, R Murphy, P Owens, O Brannigan, O Brannigan, J King, R Doyle, C Curran, J Braniff, R Morgan

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