Good times keep on rolling for Derry underage football with St Pat's Hogan Cup victory
HARAN THE HERO: Pádraig Haran of St Patrick's Maghera scores his side's first goal in the 40th minute of the Hogan Cup final against St Colman's. Haran was scored 1-1 and was named man of the match. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Considering that St Pat's, Maghera led this Hogan Cup final by just four points with 20 minutes to go, you might presume the eventual winning margin flattered them.
Truthfully, there could have been much more than just 10 points between them such was the quality of the Derry school who cut loose in the final quarter to seal their sixth ever title.
These are boom times for underage football in the Ulster county.
Back-to-back All-Ireland minor football champions, and winners of that competition in three of the last five seasons, they're building a platform to make senior success sustainable.
Padraig Haran, who struck 1-1 for St Pat's and was named Man of the Match at Croke Park, is one of a number of players who have now won titles for both college and county.
Darragh O'Neill was the Maghera college's other goalscorer, netting in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.
They were on top for the majority of the game and cruised to their first title success since 2013 when a certain Conor Glass, among the 5,796 crowd at Croke Park, was a key figure.
St Pat's should have scored significantly more than they did with four other good goal chances falling to them over the course of the hour or so, as well as 11 wides.
Darragh Beirne accounted for all of the St Colman's scores and as they poured forward late on in search of a goal, the big full-forward had a shot at goal expertly saved by Jack McCloy.
The goalkeeper also did well to deny Dara Flanagan with another late goal chance.
St Pat's are jointly managed by former Derry star Sean Marty Lockhart while former Derry All-Star Chrissy McKaigue was a notable presence on the sideline too, constantly encouraging.
Maghera, who defeated Abbey Vocational in the MacRory Cup final before overcoming Mercy Mounthawk to reach the national decider, had a near patent on possession in the first-half as they played with the wind.
Cormac Og McCloskey came around on the loop down in the left corner in front of the Davin End stand in the second minute and swung over a point, punching the air in both delight and anticipation of further gains.
But it was a slow burner for St Pat's initially as they simply couldn't turn all their possession into points.
They hit the interval with a relatively healthy 0-5 to 0-1 advantage but they fired seven wides in that period and failed to take two goal chances.
And it wasn't until close to half-time that Darach McGonigle and McCloskey again pinched points to stretch the lead out to four points at the break.
Odhran Doherty, who came into the lineup for Kevin Barry Mullan in the only change to the Pat's team from the semi-final, struck their best point of the first-half.
That came in the fifth minute when he booted from a distance that would have secured his team two points if the game was played under football's new rules. As the competition was started in late 2024, last year's rules applied.
Beirne landed a cracking Claremorris point six minutes after the restart and turned immediately to encourage his team-mates. They were only four points behind at that stage.
But the goal they required never materialised as Maghera defended superbly throughout. One moment in particular stood out as Ciaran Treacy latched onto a long kicked pass and bore down on the Maghera goal, only for corner-back Rian Collins to pick his pockets with a terrific near-hand tackle that stole back the possession.
St Colman's poured forward late on and carved those couple of goal chances but St Pat's were well in the clear at that stage, Haran's 40th minute goal after a great run by McGonigle the clear turning point.
P Haran 1-1; D O'Neill 1-0; C Og McCloskey 0-3; O Doherty, P O'Kane, D McGonigle, F McShane 0-1 each.
D Beirne 0-4 (1 free).
J McCloy; R Collins, P O'Kane, N McNicholl; D O'Neill, P Haran, D Doherty; C McKaigue, T McHugh; M McGurk, F McShane, O Doherty; C Og McCloskey, D McGonigle, G McIvor.
KB Mullan for McKaigue (26); D O'Kane for McGurk (42); D McCloskey for D O'Kane (60); F O'Sullivan for McGonigle (63).
E Campbell; N Gill, T Hession, D Flanagan; D Hurley, M Noonan, R Mortimer; C Cassidy, C Tierney; R Kelly, J Mullin, D Burke; C Treacy, D Beirne, S O'Connell.
J Comer for O'Connell (40); B Sheridan for Mullin (42); J Noone for Treacy (54); S Petkovic for Gill (59); F Sweeney for Burke (62).
S Hurson (Tyrone).
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