St. Mary's, Edenderry are Hogan Cup champions for the very first time after a convincing victory over St Michael's Enniskillen at Croke Park on Saturday.

St. Mary's Edenderry 1-16
St. Michael's Enniskillen 0-6

The Offaly side produced a magnificent team performance from the very start to outscore the Fermanagh side by thirteen points in the end.

Within seconds of the throw-in St. Michael's had an opportunity to get a dream start when full back Che Cullen found himself down on goal but his effort went wide.

Straight after, St. Mary's took the game by the scruff of the neck with scores from corner forward Cian McMonagle and forty yards man Mark Nolan.

Sean Doyle got his name on the scoresheet a few minutes later to leave it 0-4 to 0-0 after 9 minutes of play.

Edenderry kept the upperhand with their midfield pair Conor McNamee and Daniel Grehan aswell as Kildare man Daniel Flynn who was wearing number 14 but operating around the middle well on top. More scores from Doyle and Ger Leech (free) stretched the margin to six points after 15 minutes.

Disaster struck for Michael's when McMonagle goaled just after 18 minutes of play to leave a nine point deficit for the Fermanagh side. Wing forward Leech was the creator with a sublime pass inside to Ruari McNamee, the 15-year-old then casually offloaded the ball to the surging McMonagle for the finish. The corner forward made no mistake, with a low shot to the left of 'keeper Patrick Sweeney.

St. Michael's opened their account on 19 minutes from a Brian McAleer effort and soon after the full forward got his sides second point of the afternoon to leave it 1-6 to 0-2.

Full forward Eddie Courtney pointed a free with five minutes from the interval after a foul on Ryan Hyde but St. Mary's finished the second half in style with three scores from the boot of Leech (frees) and a fine effort from Grehan. Half time score - 1-10 to 0-3.

The MacRory champions started the second half brightly with a brace of points in the opening minutes from half time substitutes Lee Brennan and Tommy McCaffrey. But that was as good as it got for them though as St. Mary's resumed control.

Two more frees from Leech, this time from the hands left it 1-12 to 0-5 before the impressive Grehan arguably got the games best score after a Jason Dowdall lay off.

Despite the constant pressure forced on the St. Michael's defense they had a few goal opportunities mid way through. Eddie Courtney found himself bearing down on goal but his effort went right of the post.

The accurate Leech put over another free conceded by midfielder Rory Brennan this left twelve between them - 1-14 to 0-5.

With under 10 minutes to go, the outcome looked well beyond doubt. McCaffrey (free) got Michaels final score before Leech (free) and substitute Sean Haslim wrapped it up in injury time.

St Mary's - C Hurley; S Moriarity, L Flynn, M Kearney; R McNamee, P Foy, J Dowdall; D Grehan (0-2), C McNamee; R Caffrey, M Nolan (0-2), G Leech (0-8f); C McMonagle (1-1), D Flynn, S Doyle (0-2). Subs: I McKeown for Caffrey, A O'Connell for McMonagle, P O'Neill for Doyle, S Haslim (0-1) for McNamee, K McNally for Dowdall.

St Michael's - P Sweeney; E Hamill, C Cullen, K McDonnell; L Cullen, N Shannon, N Beggan; R Brennan, R Hyde; C Murphy, L Martin, N Maguire; D Teague, B McAleer (0-2), E Courtney (0-1f). Subs: L Brennan (0-1) for Murphy, L Jones for C Cullen, T McCaffrey (0-2, 1f) for Teague, J Allen for McAleer, D Gallagher for Jones.

Referee - M Duffy (Sligo) Tweet

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