Abbey CBS beat St Mark's in Pairc Esler to reach the Rannafast Final

Abbey CBS came out on top in the derby tie with St Mark's on Tuesday night in the Rannafast Cup semi-final to set up a meeting with Omagh CBS.

It was a deserving win in the end but it was a pleasure to see two local schools in the semi-final and St Mark's in the fray more than holding their own in the competition this year.

A bitterly cold night didn't deter a large crowd from turning up at Pairc Esler anticipating a tough battle given the schools drew in the group stages. But they had to wait 18 minutes for the first score of the game and as such were fairly muted until things heated up in the second half.

Both sides set up defensively and while Abbey had more of the ball and had more scoring chances, they kicked four wides until Odhran Reel sent the first point over the bar for the Newry school.

Sam Murdock replied with a free a minute later but Abbey went two in front with a fisted point from Reel and another from Ryan O'Hare following a nice flick on by Jack O'Mahony to Darragh Phillips who passed on to the in-rushing O'Hare.

St Mark's had no intention of letting their opponents pull away however, as a couple of wonderful points from distance from Jimmy Haughey and Dylan Kelly from a mark squared the match at 0-3 each and that was how it remained at the half-time whistle.

Abbey nabbed the first point of the second half when a shot by Reel pounded off the post and fell to Keelan McEntee who drilled the ball over the bar.

St Mark's had a chance of a goal moments later – something their opponents were all too wary of given their earlier drawn game was thanks to two maximums from the Warrenpoint team. Paidi Fitzpatrick delivered a lovely ball in to Thomas Kenny stationed in front of the Abbey goalmouth but their keeper Brodie McGreevy got a hand to it first and deflected it away off his post.

Reel converted a free at the other end to put his side two points in front again and while St Mark's responded with another lovely score on 39 minutes by Fitzpatrick curled over the bar from a tight angle, Abbey upped their game in the last quarter and kept their opponents in their own half defending for the most part.

Sub Oisin Byrne made it 0-6 to 0-4 and when Abbey won the ball from kick-out – something that happened far too often for St Mark's – another free was conceded and Reel converted.

Murdock sent another free over the bar at the other end in reply but that turned out to be the last score of the game for St Mark's and with the Abbey supporters finding their chanting voice while the St Mark's supporters willed their Purple Blood team on, it was the former who got their wish with points from McEntee, Oran Donnelly, Ethan Lavelle and Phillips finishing the scoring at 0-11 to 0-5.

Scorers

Abbey: O Reel (0-4,3f); K McEntee (0-2), R O’Hare (0-1), O Byrne (0-1), O Donnelly (0-1), E Lavelle (0-1) D Phillips (0-1)

St Mark’s: S Murdock (0-2, 2f), J Haughey (0-1), D Kelly (0-1), P Fitzpatrick (0-1)

Referee: Colm Gribben