Borrisoleigh claim first All-Ireland Schools Hurling title

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

St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh 2-17

Coláiste Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac 2-12

Report: Kevin Egan at Gardiner Park, Borrisokane

Photos: Bridget Delaney

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Michael Ryan (St. Joseph’s College)

SCORERS - St Joseph’s College: Shane Ryan 0-6 (4 frees), Micheál Collins 0-6 (4 frees, 1 65), Michael Ryan 1-2, Cody Quirke 1-1, Liam Hackett, Eoin Ryan 0-1 each.

Coláiste Naomh Cormac: Jack Dunican 0-4 (2 frees), Aaron Screeney 0-4 (2 frees, 1 ‘65), James Hennessy, Mairtín Ryan 1-1 each; Fiachra Carroll 0-2.

To tell us that the Summer is upon us, nature sends us swifts, swallows, flowers in full bloom and bees feeding from them.

To tell us the Summer is upon us, hurling sends us long queues of cars slowly filing into a rural Irish town, passionate crowds and teams pouring their heart and souls into contests that for 60 or 70 minutes, are the only thing that matters in the world to everyone inside that venue.

Summer arrived in style in Borrisokane last Friday, and St. Joseph’s College Borrisoleigh are truly the Boys of Summer after they finally wrote the school’s name into the All-Ireland roll of honour with a memorable win over Coláiste Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac.

On paper, there was unmistakable similarity between these two schools: both comparatively small, rural establishments pulling from traditional hurling heartlands.

But while Coláiste Naomh Cormac (CNC) played to that profile, with a couple of really impressive stickmen, no small amount of character and one or two players doing their best to plug gaps, it would have been easy to mistake St. Joseph’s for a school that had double that enrolment.

They had their stars too, but more than that, they had depth. If St. Joseph’s semi-final against Clonfert College was an artistic piece of craftsmanship, like a fine piece of crystal, then Friday’s victory was robust kitchen table, made from solid oak.

In the semi-final, St. Joseph’s carved out some magical scores against the wind and a magnificent contribution off the bench from Cathal Kennedy saw them home.

In the final, Mark Hoare and Tadhg Kelly were the best of a very capable bunch that came off the bench but even more important than that was how as a collective unit, they kept the error count way down.

On a day when both sides picked off some fine scores, it was only CNC who conceded soft, preventable ones. St. Joseph’s got their first goal from a seemingly innocuous delivery into the general danger area, but throughout the second half, treacherous high deliveries rained in on top of the winners’ full-back line and goalmouth, and every time, Oisín Ryan, Daniel Groome or someone else would make the right play; either a catch, a batted clearance, or some other manoeuvre to keep the net intact.

Accuracy too was an issue. St. Joseph’s scored two goals from two clearcut goal chances. Coláiste Naomh Cormac scored two, and one of those wasn’t even in their best five opportunities on the day. Add in eight first half wides, and there might be a sense of a game left behind from the Offaly school. That analysis is a bit too simplistic. Coláiste Naomh Cormac had more chances, but that’s not the same as saying they had better ones.

On a tactical level, St. Joseph’s won this game hands down. Their decision to pull Liam Hackett out of the full forward line to operate around the middle, which in turn meant they always had an extra man free to drop back and cover in defence, discombobulating CNC.

Despite being outnumbered up there, St. Joseph’s slowed down the ball coming out of the Offaly school’s backline, while at the other end CNC struggled to make it stick. Coláiste Naomh Cormac went for quick long deliveries that were hoovered up by intelligent positional play in the St. Joseph’s back line, but when possession was in the hands of the Borrisoleigh side, they always looked for the right pass, as opposed to the quick one.

As a game, it was frantic and fun from start to finish. Frantic for the players, fun for those fortunate enough to be in attendance. Throw in being belayed by five minutes to allow the crowd to make their way into the fine facilities of Borrisokane GAA showed the interest, and within sixty seconds of the game getting underway, the first massive roar of the day came when Cody Quirke blocked down an attempted pass from James McLoughlin in the CNC goal, lifting and striking to the net from close range.

The first half was a story of St. Joseph’s producing thoughtful, efficient hurling that was executed with accuracy and skill, while CNC produced chances, but failing to convert enough of them into scores.

There were classy points at either end from Jack Dunican, Mairtín Ryan, Eoin Ryan, Quirke, and Michael Ryan, but when it came to the goals, Cody Quirke and Michael Ryan were on target with their efforts, while James Hennessy fired his penalty into the foot of the post.

Add in a first half wide count of eight to three with CNC guilty of the larger share, and a 2-8 to 0-5 deficit on a perfectly calm day looked substantial.

Fast forward fifteen minutes into the second half and the lead was now ten, with two more glorious CNC goal chances having gone askew. Aaron Screeney was making a clear impact up front and a couple of positional switches also went well, with Fiachra Carroll thriving at midfield, Martín Ryan winning ball at half-forward and James Hennessy making a pest of himself close to the St. Joseph’s goal.

The angle looked too tight when Hennessy won a hard ball in the left corner and went to slam it into the roof of the net but once the twine danced, there was life in the Leinster champions.

Sixty seconds later, Lochlann Fletcher, son of former Roscrea and Tipp underage hurler Trevor, played an inviting pass across the middle that Mairtín Ryan flicked to the net, and the game was well and truly afoot.

By now Luke Bracken, James Dooley and Fiachra Carroll were dominating the middle and a series of long deliveries were sent into the St. Joseph’s goalmouth, but time and again Oisín Ryan and Daniel Groome did what they needed to do, effectively bailing out enough water to allow the attacking ship to stay afloat long enough to find their way once again.

Aaron Screeney knocked over a couple of points to reduce the lead to the bare minimum but there was to be a final kick in St. Joseph’s, enough to see them home.

Team captain Micheál Collins landed a high pressure 65, Shane Ryan nailed a couple of frees and split the uprights from a tricky angle on the left hand side, and Cusack Cup was theirs.

And for everyone lucky enough to be there, Summer was up and running. We didn’t need the swallows to tell us; the quality of this hurling match made it clear.

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

Subs: Mark Hoare (Silvermines 8) for Rabbitte (46); Billy O’Brien (Toomevara 6) for E Ryan (47); Tadhg Kelly (Borris-Ileigh 8) for Troy (52); David Rabbitte for Anderson (59); Darragh Kelly (Toomevara NR) for Quirke (60+3).

Coláiste Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac (Kilcormac-Killoughey unless stated): James McLoughlin (6); Niall Fitzgerald (6), Tomás Carroll (Brosna Gaels 8), Seán Cleary (6); AJ Bracken (8), Luke Bracken (9), James Dooley (Drumcullen 8); James Hennessy (Drumcullen 8), Joe Quinn (7); Seán Gill (6), Fiachra Carroll (7), Oisín McKeown (6); Lochlann Fletcher (7), Mairtín Ryan (Drumcullen 8), Jack Dunican (7).

Subs: James Lynch for Hennessy (29-HT, blood), James Lynch 7 for Cleary (HT), Aaron Screeney (8) for McKeown (HT).

Referee: John Bugler (Clare).