Sport

Navan's St Pat's steal late victory

All-Ireland Colleges SF A final: St Patrick's Navan 1-11 St Patrick's Dungannon 1-10 The Colm O'Rourke-trained St Patrick's …

Gavin Cummiskey at Parnell Park
Tue May 04 2004 - 01:00

All-Ireland Colleges SF A final: St Patrick's Navan 1-11 St Patrick's Dungannon 1-10 The Colm O'Rourke-trained St Patrick's Classical School, Navan, claimed their third All-Ireland Colleges title in five years thanks to a gutsy, Meath-like, performance at Parnell Park yesterday.

Despite leading 1-7 to 0-1 at one stage in the first half, the sheer momentum their Ulster opponents generated in the second-half looked set to overwhelm them. However, with the sides level coming down the final stretch, two crucial late points from Cian Ward and Shane O'Rourke, son of Colm, were enough to edge them to victory.

"We were out on our feet," said O'Rourke. "It looked like the whole tide of the game had turned against us. To then get two points showed a little bit of character from the lads.

"With three minutes to go I probably would've taken a draw and played on for another 20 minutes as we seemed to have lost our shape.

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"They just threw caution to the wind and everybody started attacking at us. Their whole backline moved up. A lot of the time it was difficult to counteract as we couldn't win our own kick-outs," he added.

The half-time break, which seemed to last an eternity, was prolonged further by the delayed reappearance of St Patrick's of Dungannon. This increasing common ploy worked perfectly for the Tyrone youths as they rattled off three successive points in the opening six minutes to reduce the deficit to four points.

Then came further controversy. Navan's Patrick Smith hit a long-range shot called as a wide by one of the umpires, a decision over-ruled by referee Pat McEnaney. It proved to be a valuable point, as Raymond Mulgrew then weighed in with 1-2 over the next 10 minutes to level the match at 1-9 apiece, before Navan's final flurry.

"They are a great group of fellas. They've been as talented as we've had and probably as dedicated a bunch that I've ever worked with. From the beginning of September, I always figured we were going to be in with a shout," added O'Rourke.

In retrospect, the contest was probably won by their early form, particularly that of Cian Ward. He got the first of six points in the opening minute.

A Shane O'Rourke goal after 15 minutes put them on the road to what seemed an academic win.

ST PATRICK'S, NAVAN: M Gaffney; C McGuinness, K Reilly, B O'Donnell; N McMahon, P Murray, D Corcoran; B Meade, C Kenny; S O'Toole (0-1), H Finnegan, S O'Rourke (1-1); C O'Dwyer (0-1), C Ward (0-6, 2f), P Smyth (0-2). Subs: V Reilly for Murray (13 mins), C Byrne for Reilly (54 mins).

ST PATRICK'S, DUNGANNON: P Laverty; R McGurk, D Lynch, P Girvan; D McCaul, S O'Hagan, M Murray; E Laverty, R Mulgrew (1-2); C 'Neill (0-1), C Donnelly, K McGuckin (0-2), J Grimley (0-4, 3f), J Lavery (0-1), P Forker. Subs: B Donaghy for Lynch (half-time), G McCaughey for Donnelly, O Coyle for McGuckin (both 41 mins), B O'Neill for O'Hagan (52 mins), C Bayne for C O'Neill (59 mins).

Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan).