It was a keenly contested decider throughout with never much between the sides and it was only in the closing stages that Magherafelt grabbed their goal to give them a flattering but deserved triumph.
It was end to end stuff from the first whistle to the last with the two sides sharing the opening four points of the game, Liam Gervin and Sean Corr on target for the Academy with Conal McErlean and Aaron Devlin responding for St.Marys. Magherafelt midfielder Devlin was already developing into the game's central character and he was unlucky not to get a goal when his well hit shot struck the Dungannon crossbar.

Frees

The same player knocked over a couple of frees but efforts from Keifer Morgan and Martin Campbell restored parity with ten minutes of the first half to play. Magherafelt though were still looking the more threatening side and a brace of points each from Conor Kerins and Devlin saw them establish a 0-10 to 0-6 interval advantage.
On the restart Kerins and Academy midfielder Colm McFaul exchanged points before the Tyrone lads got right back into the frame when good approach play from Eunan Deeney and Sean Corr presented Campbell with a goal chance and he made no mistake with a finish past Magherafelt keeper Declan McCann.
Ten minutes into the second half a Morgan free levelled matters but that was as good as it got for the Academy as Magherafelt outscored them 1-6 to 0-2 in the remainder of the contest. With Devlin and Justin Bradley calling the shots in midfield St.Marys Magherafelt started to make their possession count on the scoreboard and going into the final ten minutes they had established a four point advantage thanks to efforts from Kerins, Sean Cassidy and substitute Johnny McKee.
Eunan Deeney reduced the deficit to a single score but with five minutes left to play the game was ended as a contest when a blistering four man move ended with Magherafelt substitute Conor Diamond finishing in style past Dungannon keeper Mark McReynolds. McFaul had an Academy point but St.Marys weren't to be denied and Devlin and Kerins took their personal haul to half a dozen points each to deny the Academy their third colleges' title of the season.