The Official Ulster Colleges GAA Website - Sponsored by BT
Sun 16th Oct 2011
Cross & Passion College secured top spot in Group A with a hard fought 6-8 to 3-7 win against reigning All-Ireland and Mageean Cup champions St Patricks Maghera. Played in very poor conditions that was dominated by the rain, wind and hailstones, the teams have to be commended for producing an entertaining game for the supporters who braved wintry Cloughmills. St Pats played with a strong breeze in the first half and it was Cross & Passion who found themselves under pressure from strong forwards such as Tiernan McCloskey and Gerard Bradley. However the Ballycastle defence were defending well as a unit with captain Patrick Blaney leading a strong blockade against the Maghera lads. With Maghera only one point up with 3 minutes remaining until half time, things looked good for CPC, but St Pats scored 1-2 in last 3 minutes to build up a half time lead of 2-7 to 1-4, CPC's goal coming from half forward Saul McCaughan.
Cross and Passion started the second half well with an early goal from Conleth McNeill, and with Niall McFadden, Ruairi Laverty, Patrick McBride, Eoghan Campbell & Ryan McCambridge providing a sound platform, they started to play some good hurling in the difficult conditions. Conall Brown and Conor McCurdy were dominating around the middle and with the breeze behind them the Cross & Passion forwards were getting a good supply of ball, which Paul McErlain, Aidan Corbett and "Hippy" McClafferty made the most of. St Pats missed a few scores late on, but it was Conleth McNeill revelling in his new wing half back role who had the last score of the day with a long distance point to seal a 6-8 to 3-7 win for Cross and Passion, which puts them through to the semi final to take place in a fortnights time.
Panel: Michael McHugh, Alex Delargy, Patrick McBride, Ryan McCambridge, Thomas Burns, Ruairi Laverty, Ronan Campbell, Niall McFadden, Conleth McNeill, Donal O'Hara, David Kearney, Patrick Blaney, Eoghan Campbell, Aidan Corbett, Shane McCarry, Zach McCaughan, Conor Christie, Conall Brown, Peter McErlain, Conor McCurdy, Hippy McClafferty, Ciaran Laverty, Patrick Butler, Saul McCaughan, Paul McErlain
Submitted by: Joe Cassidy
