St Michael’s look for response after loss
Omagh CBS 0-15 St. Michael’s 0-07
ST. Michael’s Macrory Cup campaign began with a loss as the Enniskillen school went down by eight points to Omagh CBS in Healy Park last Wednesday night.
Two points separated the sides early in the second half but Omagh pulled away after that to record a deserving win over their St. Michael’s counterparts.
St. Michael’s coach Peter Teague knew his side would be up against it having gone into the game without key personnel in the shape of captain Lughaidh Donnelly, Liam Mcenri and Lanty Feely.
“The boys couldn’t be faulted for effort throughout against a very strong Omagh CBS team who were full out.
“We knew we were going to be up against it with having key personnel out with injuries - that’s something that we’ve had to try and balance this past few months with a lot of our lads still playing club minor football in Fermanagh.
“We’ve been trying our best to manage player load so that injuries can be avoided but unfortunately sometimes the boys are doing too much,” he said.
On the game, he added: “The boys were equal to Omagh for large parts of the game - additional time in the first half was frustrating letting them tag on two quick fire points to give them a four point cushion going into the break.
“It was great to see a strong response bring the game back to two points but a few poor decisions cost us and let them pull clear during a 10 minute spell when we couldn’t get to grips with them. “
Liam Corry landed St. Michael’s opening score of the game but this was their only score from play.
As half time approached, Omagh had moved into a 0-04 to 0-02 lead with Conor
O’hanlon drilling over St. Michael’s second point from a ‘45 to keep them in touch.
However, two points late in the half for the home side put them into a 0-06 to 0-02 lead by the break.
St. Michael’s started the second half well as O’hanlon knocked over two frees to bring them back to within two but it was all Omagh after this as the CBS pulled away.
Conor Owens and Ruairi Mccullagh were among the points as they opened up a sizeable cushion and although O’hanlon converted a couple more frees, Omagh were always comfortable as they picked up the points from this opening game.
Next up for St. Michael’s is a meeting with St. Pat’s Cavan on Tuesday and Teague says that the players are keen to make a positive response to last week’s defeat.
“Moving forward now all focus is on Cavan this coming Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, Liam Macenri got bad news this week regarding his injury which will be a massive blow for us but the boys are keen to make a good response after last Wednesday’s result,” said Teague.