ST MICHAELS ........................2-13

ST COLMANS .........................3-14

A DESPERATELY disappointing defeat here for St Michael's last Monday afternoon in Crossmaglen as they went down to St Colman's in a high scoring Corn na nOg tussle, the Newry college claiming the win with a goal and point in the dying moments of the contest.

St Michaels certainly deserved at the least a draw tie here for they had matched the opposition in every aspect but fate went against them in the dramatic closing spell.

The teams tied level, a St Michaels free from the wing spinning down from high up the upright, St Colman's seizing possession to launch a slick counter raid which duly carved out a goal.

The resultant kick out won by the new leaders who promptly popped over a point to suddenly have a four point established in a matter of a minute.

Still St Michael's can take heart from this excellent performance on their part and they can go into their final section game with Armagh in sound heart that they can take the win which would bring them into the quarter finals.

Many first class individual contributions from St Michael's in a game which was played in blustery conditions. In the defence, centre back Patrick Hyde had a fine match while in the middle of the park the duo of Adrian McMahon and James Allen worked exceptionally hard all through.

Up front there was an especially tenacious display from corner forward David Teague who posed a constant difficulty for the St Colman's defence and regular fouling on him provided lots of placed kicks for Daire Gallagher to strike over.

Playing into the stiff wind in the opening half, St Michael's couldn't have wished for a better start than the one which they enjoyed. They stormed their way forward against a hesitant opposition and were rewarded with points from David Teague, Lee Brennan and James Allen, the latter being denied a goal with a super save from the St Colman's keeper.

But a goal did arrive, approach work from John Owens and Ryan McDonagh paving the way for a precise low finish from Lee Brennan. Looking very promising indeed for St Michael's at this stage especially as they were facing into the elements but that position was unravelled in a poor ten minute spell for them.

St Colman's gained a command which yielded up a couple of goals and with a series of points also tacked on, the Newry side were to go in at the break leading by 2-8 to 2-4.

Not a disaster by any means for St Michael's to face up as the second half got underway but they were to take much too long to make inroads into the deficit. Crucially St Colman's collected a couple of points to keep their scoreline ticking over and it was not until the game moved into the final quarter that St Michael's eventually trimmed down the deficit.

Successful frees from Daire Gallagher provided the bulk of the scoring with Lee Brennan on the mark from open play and with just a few minutes remaining the game was level. But then came the unfortunate free that just failed to slide inside the upright, the rapid fire counter attack by a smooth running St Colman's and the winning scores picked up.

St Michael's deserved better from their hour's effort but they still came away from the game with a real sense of worth that they are by no means out of the Corn na Nog reckoning yet.