Enjoyed last night, a good test for a depleted Cross, Maghery will probably rue a few chances early on but I thought they were excellent to come back from 6 pts down to enter half time level.
From their perspective halftime probably came too soon as they had their tails up at that stage and Cross were starting to lose focus a bit getting involved with handbags etc. It was telling that Maghery stayed on the pitch to let Cross go in first to avoid potential fisticuffs in the tunnel, usually it is Cross that do that!
The second half wasn't as good as the first, Maghery showed inexperience conceding silly scorable frees as well as having other frees moved in for petulance, criminal if you're to have any chance of beating Cross. This inevitably led to them having a 4/5 point cushion that they were never really going to relinquish in the final ten. Maghery had a genuine shout for a penalty turned down and instead a free out given; thems the kind of breaks that Cross seem to always get but as they say you make your own luck. Can't see them beat in the final in any case, not sure how they'll progress in Ulster though.
From their perspective halftime probably came too soon as they had their tails up at that stage and Cross were starting to lose focus a bit getting involved with handbags etc. It was telling that Maghery stayed on the pitch to let Cross go in first to avoid potential fisticuffs in the tunnel, usually it is Cross that do that!
The second half wasn't as good as the first, Maghery showed inexperience conceding silly scorable frees as well as having other frees moved in for petulance, criminal if you're to have any chance of beating Cross. This inevitably led to them having a 4/5 point cushion that they were never really going to relinquish in the final ten. Maghery had a genuine shout for a penalty turned down and instead a free out given; thems the kind of breaks that Cross seem to always get but as they say you make your own luck. Can't see them beat in the final in any case, not sure how they'll progress in Ulster though.