FonaCAB Ulster Club MFC
Quarter-final
O’Donovan Rossa, Magherafelt 1-16 2-10 St Brigid’s
AS Ciarán and Caolán Higgins stood on the artificial surface after their St Paul’s Tournament quarter-final win, relief was very much the order of the day.
Jerome Quinn put it to them that there were shades of last year’s last-gasp defeat to Four Masters.
St Brigid’s of Antrim provided no end of drama 12 months on, but their late comeback effort fell just short, despite an Eoin Sherry goal.
O’Donovan Rossa manager Ciarán admits nerves were jangling:
“The honest answer is yes, absolutely! The last five or six minutes, St Brigid’s came very strong at us.
“They won a lot of possession around the middle, gave them real licence to go at us in the last few minutes.
“Obviously the goal at the end brought it back to two, so had the referee played another minute or two, there could well have been a repeat of perhaps last year.
“It wouldn’t have been ideal for us!”.
Talented Derry prospect Caolán Higgins was here last year too, and lived that defeat to the Donegal outfit (who went on to win the tournament).
Like father, like son it seems:
“I genuinely thought we were going to get beat when that goal went in. Thankfully the final whistle went, so happy enough, aye.”
Namesake Conall Higgins was to the fore for Magherafelt, as was fellow All-Ireland minor winner Cahir Spiers, whilst at the other end yet another Higgins - this time JJ - helped himself to a fine tally of 0-8 in defeat.
The damage was largely done in the opening half, as Brigid’s faced a six-point deficit at half-time. Kian Maynes early goal proved crucial in the end.
For Magherafelt, it’s the Fermanagh or Armagh champions in a semi-final. Clann Eireann are The Orchard representatives, in what has been a stellar year for the club across the board, and they meet St Molaise of Irvinestown on the Sunday, December 1.
Preliminary Round
Mayobridge 2-10 1-10 Kingscourt
IT was another titanic battle in the preliminary round draw. Mayobridge of Down got the better of Cavan opposition Kingscourt, having been beaten by Cavan Gaels in 2023.
Francie Poland is among an eight-strong management set-up for The Mournemen, and whatever last minute words of encouragement they had paid off, as Mayobridge struck a major in what was the match’s first score.
Soon their lead was 1-05 0-01, and with Kingscourt in real bother, Joe McCormack notched a goal to leave his side five behind at the break.
The game looked over once more with a second goal from the towering Daire O’Keeffe for the Mourne champions, but Kingscourt reeled off six in a row to bring themselves into contention again.
But the closest they would get was two points, as Mayobridge held out for the win in a thoroughly enjoyable encounter.
O’Keeffe, again speaking to Jerome Quinn, noted that they like Magherafelt were just happy to get over the line:
“In these games, anything can happen. They ran it back to three points in the end, they could have run it back to less.”
Fr Rock’s of Cookstown will be their quarter-final opponents on December 15.
