O'Kanes Extra Time wizardy does the trick for Cross and Passion

Cross and Passion Ballycastle 3-24 Gaelcholáiste Dhoire 3-20 (AET)

Miracles sometimes do happen! Ask any member of this Cross and Passion Mageean cup hurling team and they will verify.

Taken to extra time by Gaelcholaiste Dhoire they managed win by four points thanks to the magic of their young star Paidi O'Kane who knocked home the vital goal and point that saw them squeeze into the semi final.

The undisputed hero of this quarter final tie hour was fifteen year old Cross and Passion star Paidi O’Kane. Showing class and composure well beyond his years, the Dunloy teenager finished with a spectacular personal tally of two goals and three points, delivering the fatal blows exactly when his team needed them most.

Following Gaelcholáiste Dhoire’s defeat tat the hands of St Killian’s in their last outing, most spectators felt this quarter-final was a foregone conclusion.

When the Ballycastle College dictated the early exchanges, bolstered by O’Kane’s opening goal and Logan McConville’s midfield dominance, to take a comfortable 1-11 to 1-7 lead into the break, everything seemed to be following the expected script.

However, Gaelcholáiste hit back with a vengeance in the second thirty minutes and left the Town side speechless. Inspired by the relentless dead-ball accuracy of Dylan Ó hEireamhóinn, who finished with thirteen points, they steadily erased the deficit.

With just minutes of this intense battle remaining, the Derry College appeared to have the game won when Brogan Ó Dubhghail-Ó Cinnéide forced a ground shot into the Ballycastle net, and Kian Ó Cheallaigh quickly added a point to establish a commanding four-point lead.

Staring down the barrel of an early exit, the North Antrim side somehow got out of jail.

Replacement Cathair McCloskey scrambled home a desperate lifeline goal, setting the stage for Logan McConville, who showed nerves of steel, to nail a colossal free from inside his own sixty five to drag the game into extra time.

It was in the added periods that O’Kane truly worked his magic. After the Ballycastle scholars hit the first four points of extra time, Gaelcholáiste’s Emmett Og Mac Íomhaire bagged a brilliant solo goal to keep the pressure on.

Unfazed, the Dunloy wizard O’Kane took over, firing over a point before rattling the net for his second goal of the contest to finally break Gaelcholáiste’s resistance.

The dramatic comeback victory secures the Towns progression and sets up a highly anticipated North Antrim derby semi-final again St Louis Ballymena later this week.