St Joseph's firepower sees them past Clonfert College

GAA: Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘C’ Hurling Semi-Final

St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh 2-18

Clonfert College, Ballinasloe 2-13

Report: Kevin Egan at St. Rynagh’s Park, Banagher

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Micheál Collins (St. Joseph’s)

SCORERS - St Joseph’s College: Shane Ryan 0-7 (5 frees), Cathal Kennedy 0-5, Cody Quirke 1-1, Eoghan Anderson 1-0, Michael Collins 0-3, Liam Hackett, Michael Ryan 0-1 each.

Clonfert College: Ross Glynn 0-6 (5 frees); Cillian Ó Tuairisg 1-2, Odhran Sheanon 1-0, Louis Markham 0-2, Cillian McPhillips, Cillian Greene, Jason Carty 0-1 each.

Who needs heft when you have craft? Who needs experience when you have expertise?

This was the theme of last Saturday’s All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘C’ Hurling semi-final, where a young but talented St. Joseph’s Borrisoleoigh side out-hurled Clonfert College of Ballinasloe, the school that most Nenagh Guardian readers would have known as Garbally College prior to their merger with Mercy College last year.

It would be easy to look at the winning margin of five points and note that Cathal Kennedy, ruled out of starting due to injury picked up in their Munster final win, came off the bench to shoot five outstanding points from a mere six possessions.

The big Borris-Ileigh clubman is no bantamweight in this company so his performance goes against the narrative, but while his contribution was significant and did indeed represent ‘the difference between the teams’, the St. Joseph’s starting team had put the school into a commanding position already, having come through thirty minutes of hurling into a tricky breeze with a one-point lead.

Like most games played last weekend, the wind was a key factor. Any shot from more than fifty metres out into the road end of the Banagher field was a speculative attempt at best, while perhaps fifteen metres was either added or subtracted from the goalkeepers’ puckouts, depending on which direction they were striking.

Clonfert were the side that had the option of shooting from anywhere past their own 65m line but despite this, St. Joseph’s carved out the better chances in the opening half due to their superior ability to move the ball through the lines.

As Clonfert College coach Emmet Mahony said afterwards: “The Borrisoleigh boys were good stick hurlers. The little bit of cuteness and the striking, they were able put the ball over the bar easier”.

That stickwork was evident in early scores for Liam Hackett and Shane Ryan, in the crafty and tenacious corner back play of Cormac Frend and Adam Whyte, and most of all in the excellent midfield play from team captain Micheál Collins, whose three points was only a small part of his overall contribution.

Meanwhile Clonfert College struggled to generate cohesive team scores to the same extent. Cillian McPhillips and Louis Markham were on the mark with good points after winning their own ball while on the defensive end, Niall Doran at full back and Donnacha Monaghan in goal came up with some big plays, Monaghan called into action three times to deny goal attempts from St. Joseph’s.

More often than not however they needed one player to do something special, they were unable to put together passages of good hurling that would create high percentage scoring chances.

Cody Quirke’s goal, set up by a gorgeous long pass from Ciarán Troy and a quick, clever layoff from Eoghan Anderson, was typical of the type of fluid play that was on show from the Munster champions.

Clonfert bounced back in style with a clever low finish for a goal from Cillian Ó Tuairisg, then a brace of points from distance to go three clear. They still had ten minutes ten minutes to try and augment that lead but instead a batted goal from Eoghan Anderson undid their good work, and St. Joseph’s 2-7 to 1-9 interval lead looked commanding.

With Ross Glynn using his size to make a nuisance of himself, Odhran Sheanon poached a goal early in the second half and two frees from Glynn, allied to some ongoing good work in defence, meant the contest was still in the balance midway through the second half, deadlocked at 2-11 apiece. St. Joseph’s were on top defensively, but they needed a focal point if they were to hurl with a little bit more directness and fully exploit the elements.

Enter Cathal Kennedy, normally the starting centre forward but left off due to an injury picked up in the Munster final against Dungarvan CBS. How he would have handled a full hour is a question that will remain unanswered, but he certainly made his 28 minutes count, raining shots over the Clonfert College crossbar.

Billy O’Brien was also introduced to make it three Leaving Cert students on the field for St. Joseph’s and while that might be a small number by the standards of most schools, the injection of physical power from Kennedy and O’Brien allowed St. Joseph’s to drop one or two players back for cover in the defence, which in turn proved crucial to ensuring that Clonfert College never got the clear goal chance that they badly needed to work their way back into the tie.

Kennedy had two points within a few minutes of coming in and he fired over another brace with a little less than ten minutes to play, stretching the lead out to more than a single score for the first time in the game for either team.

St. Joseph’s had all the momentum, and with Daniel Groome and David Rabbitte now imperious along the spine of the defence, they weren’t about to give it away at this late stage.

TEAMS – St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh: Oisín Ryan (Borris-Ileigh 7); Cormac Frend (Toomevara 8), Daniel Groome (Borris-Ileigh 8), Adam Whyte (Toomevara 7); Ciarán Troy (Toomevara 8), David Rabbitte (Borris-Ileigh 7), Mark Hoare (Silvermines 6); Micheál Collins (Templederry Kenyons, Capt 9), Liam Hackett (Toomevara 7); Eoin Ryan (Borris-Ileigh 6), Michael Ryan (Borris-Ileigh 8), Jack Gould (Borris-Ileigh 6); Shane Ryan (Borris-Ileigh 8), Eoghan Anderson (Borris-Ileigh 7), Cody Quirke (Toomevara 7).

Subs: Cathal Kennedy (Borris-Ileigh 9) for Hoare (30+2), Tadhg Kelly (Borris-Ileigh 7) for Anderson (43), Billy O’Brien (Toomevara 6) for Hackett (52), Paul Kinnane (Borris-Ileigh 6) for S Ryan (57)

Clonfert College, Ballinasloe: Donnacha Monaghan (Pádraig Pearses Roscommon 9); Quinn Clancy (Cappataggle 6), Niall Doran (Pádraig Pearses 8), Kealan Doran (Pádraig Pearses 7); Cillian Greene (Cappataggle 7), Daniel Mooney (Pádraig Pearses 7), Conor Jennings (Cappataggle 6); Jason Carty (Pádraig Pearses 7), Odhran Sheanon (Ballinasloe 7); Louis Markham (Kiltormer 7), Cillian Ó Tuairisg (Loughrea 8), Ross Glynn (Pádraig Pearses 6); Joey O’Byrne (Pádraig Pearses 6), Cillian McPhillips (Ahascragh-Fohenagh 7), Rian Clancy (Cappataggle 6).

Subs: Tadhg Casey (Ballinasloe 6) for O’Byrne (27), Keelan Kelly (Pádraig Pearses R 7) for Markham (44), Micheál Hanlon (Kiltormer NR) for R Clancy (57), Kieran Cunningham (Pádraig Pearses NR) for Carty (60)

Referee: Kieran Dooley (Offaly).