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Sharp St Flannan's book passage

Colleges SH Munster/St Flannan's Ennis 2-14 St Colman's Fermoy 0-10: St Colman's were never a match for reigning champions St…

Mon Feb 13 2006 - 00:00

Colleges SH Munster/St Flannan's Ennis 2-14 St Colman's Fermoy 0-10: St Colman's were never a match for reigning champions St Flannan's in the semi-final of the Dr Harty Cup at Claughan yesterday.

Trailing by 0-8 to 0-2 at the break, the Fermoy nursery conceded two goals in as many minutes directly after half-time, putting paid to their title aspirations for this year at least. Reaching the decider for a third time in a row St Flannan's, the current All-Ireland champions, are now on course for a record 22nd provincial title success.

Yesterday's win was based on a combination of direct and fast hurling by the Clare school coupled with a disappointing performance from the Cork boys.

In an earlier group game Coleman's were successful in overcoming St Flannan's by 2-15 to 2-14, but yesterday at the Limerick venue there was only one side in it.

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Directly after the break, a speculative shot by St Flannan's half forward Donagh Stack hit the up-right. It fell to a well positioned Ross Horan and the full forward gave Jason Condon no chance in the Colman's goal.

Seconds later Condon was again defeated. This time Conor Nealon blasted past him after being set up by Conor Tierney - game, set and match to St Flannan's.

The Cork college depended too much on Adrain Mannix for scores and even though he started at full forward and moved around to various positions in attack throughout the hour, a solid St Flannan's defence had him well marshalled.

In the end Coleman's could have no complaints. On the day they were outsmarted by a well drilled Flannan's outfit, who had the luxury of resting three of their best attackers, Stack, Tierney and Horan before the final whistle.

ST FLANNAN'S: D Touhy; C O'Doherty, C Cooney, S O'Regan; E Glynn, S Hickey, D Ryan (0-1, free); E Barrett (0-1), M Earley (0-1); C Madden, J Neylon (0-2), D Stack (0-1); C Tierney (0-2), R Horan (1-1), C Nealon (1-3). Subs: J Conlon for Tierney, C O'Connell for Stack, B Coffey (0-2) for Horan, C Duggan for O'Regan.

ST COLMAN'S: J Condon; J Ahern, D O'Connell, S Howard; J O'Sullivan, K Kearney, L Coleman; S Cotter (0-1), L Sexton; S Walsh, E Barry, S Kearney; M O'Callaghan, A Mannix (0-9, seven frees), J Barry. Subs: B Hoare for O'Connell, R O'Callaghan for E Barry, B O'Sullivan for J Barry, F Ryan for S Kearney, A Baragry for J O'Sullivan.

Referee: T Ryan ( Tipperary).