St Jarlath's 3-11 St Michael's 0-6St Jarlath's recaptured the All-Ireland Senior Colleges' A football title after an absence of eight years when they clinically dispatched St Michael's of Enniskillen after a poor, one-sided game at a packed Seán Mhic Diarmada park in Carrick-on-Shannon yesterday.
All the colour, glamour and noisy verve of a Colleges final were present in the 3,000-plus crowd, with the St Michael's contingent led by a brass band. However, the excitement generated off the pitch was in stark contrast to the on-pitch activities as both sides failed to live up the pre-match hype.
The Galway school served notice of their intentions from the first minute when full forward Michael Meehan, who played a captain's role throughout, scored a point from play. It took St Michael's a further six minutes before they opened their account with a point from their captain, Ryan Keenan.
Although St Michael's enjoyed most of the possession, the opening quarter was a scrappy affair and they failed to push home their advantage against a resolute St Jarlath's defence. Then in the 13th minute, a long ball from midfielder Niall Coleman on the left found John Devane in space and he flicked it past the outcoming Christopher Breen to score Jarlath's first goal.
A Michael Meehan pointed free one minute later was followed almost immediately by Jarlath's second goal when Meehan chased a blockdown from a poor St Michael's clearance, controlled the ball on the ground and volleyed, soccer-style, past Breen.
Facing a deficit of 2-2 to a solitary point, St Michael's were clearly in trouble but they rose to the challenge with points from Keenan, Shaun Doherty and the excellent Shane O'Brien between the 19th and the 24th minute .
Two minutes later their good work was undone when Niall Coleman rose the highest in a bunch of players to fist to the Michael's net following a Niall Coleman '45 for Jarlath's third goal. Further points from Michael Meehan and James Kavanagh in the 27th and 28th minute completed the Jarlath's first half dominance and they led by 3-4 to 0-4 at half-time.
St Michael's were first to score on the resumption when the hard working Keenan pointed after three minutes. This was added to five minutes later by Stephen Burns, which proved to be Michael's last score.
Once again, Jarlath's took over and wiped out the Enniskillen side's earlier efforts with two points in the space of a minute from David Warde. In the 13th minute further disaster struck Michael's when wing back Paddy Magee was red-carded for a personal foul on Michael Meehan. The remaining 20 minutes was mainly exhibition stuff from a rampant Jarlath's as 14-man Michael's just couldn't come to grips with the fast moving game of the westerners.
Alan Burke and Gary Sice were outstanding in defence, while Niall Coleman dominated the midfield. In attack, Warde, Devance and the elusive Michael Meehan caused the St Michael's defence endless problems.The Northerners did mount a last-gasp attack but Kevin Gallagher summed up their frustration when after he was put clear through with Donal Dowd in the Jarlath's goal stranded, he missed the target by inches. It was just not to be their day in a game that failed to excite but few among the Jarlath's fans who joined in the post-match celebration cared.
ST JARLATH'S: D Dowd; P Costello, A Burke, G Sice; A Flaherty, D Mullahy, G Aherne; N Coleman (1-0); J Kavanagh(0-1); S Moran, D Dunleavy, D Warde (0-3); J Devane (1-1), M Meehan (1-6), C De Paor. Subs: J Donoghue for S Moran, A O'Hara for De Paor, M Creaven for Warde.
ST MICHAEL'S: C Breen; N Bogue, P O'Kane, P Johnson; P Magee; S Burns (0-1), K Murphy; S Doherty (0-1), J Sherry; K Gallagher, S O'Brien (0-1), C O'Reilly; P Ward; R Keenan (0-3), C Foy. Substitutes: N McVeigh for Gallagher, J O'Flanagan for Ward, B Gallagher for S O'Brien, D Shannon for 0'Flanagan.
