LEINSTER COLLEGES SENIOR A CHAMPIONSHIP/St Mel's, Longford 2-7 St Mary's, Carlow 0-5:ST MEL'S, Longford, delivered a purposeful second-half performance to defeat a spirited St Mary's Academy, Carlow CBS outfit at the Downs GAA Club.
Despite dominating much of the opening period, St Mel’s trailed at the interval as St Mary’s Academy, with Evan O’Carroll impressing, led by 0-4 to 0-2.
St Mel’s, though, completely ruled matters after the restart with Cillian Farrell (34th minute) and Brian Walsh (51st) netting goals. A pointed free from O’Carroll with four minutes remaining was the losers’ only score in the second half as St Mel’s confidently closed the deal.
ST MEL’S: C Farrell; D Cox, N Keenan, S Rogers; F O’Donnell. D Bennett, C Shiels; C Casserly, P Kiernan; C Farrell (1-4, two frees), R McGowan (0-1), A Dalton; D Kelly, J Keenan (0-1), B Walsh (1-1, one free). Subs: B Smith for O’Donnell (2), N Conroy for Kiernan (47), K Finnan for Kelly (52).
ST MARY’S: D Currie; C Moran-O’Brien, W Humphries, A Brennan; C O’Brien, T Kenny, C Murphy; E O’Carroll (0-2, one free), M Furey; N Kelly, M Lawlor, T Shiel (0-1); N Quinlan (0-1), C Townsend, E Lowry (0-1). Subs: S Dooley for Kelly (36 mins), R Hennessy for O’Brien (40 mins).
Referee: M McAdam.
Ardscoil na Trionóide1-14 St Benildus 2-7
ARDSCOIL na Trionóide from Athy produced a powerful second-half display at Belfield yesterday.
The visitors trailed by six points midway through the opening half but gradually reeled their opponents in before striking a crucial goal through Michael Kelly five minutes from time. Late points from the superb David Hyland, Niall Kelly and David O’Toole secured an impressive victory
ARDSCOIL NA TRIONÓIDE: S Conway; M Behan, K Mulhall, T Foley; T May, J Merrins (0-2, two frees), L Doyle; P Connell, D Hyland (0-2); S Ronan (0-1), A Farrell (0-1), P Keogh; M Kelly (1-1), D O’Toole (0-2), N Kelly (0-5, four frees). Subs: S McGovern for Behan (42).
ST BENILDUS: S Murtagh; A Kennedy, C Dolan, E Murphy; S Corcoran, R McGowan, S Mulvaney; D Butler, D Byrne (0-2); E Coffey, B Reilly, N Hanley; P Connolly (1-0, pen), B Horan, S Cunningham (1-5, one free). Subs: C Conway for Reilly (44), S Bedford for Connolly (56).
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow)
Malahide CS 2-13 Scoil Dara, Kilcock 1-8
A PHYSICALLY superior Malahide side advanced to the second round with a few scores to spare, but had to overcome a spirited challenge from the gutsy Kildare students.
First-half goals from the north Dubliners, from Cian McCarthy and Mark Hazley, did much to set Malahide on their way.
In truth, they were good value for that win, with full forward Hazley to the fore. He kick-started his fine performance with a nice goal in the 15th minute – the ball finding him after it cannoned off the crossbar.
MALAHIDE: G Logan; E Hamill, C Ryan (0-1), D Greenan; J Peacock, K O’Flynn (0-1), C McGahan; S McGrath (0-2), C Mullarkey (0-2); C McCarthy (1-0), S Reogh, D Walsh; K Lynott (0-1), M Hazley (1-5, two frees), M Hughes. Subs: J Hazley (0-1) for Walsh (ht), P McBride for Hughes (57).
KILCOCK: P O’Connell; J Lavelle, M Fahey, C Sheridan; T O’Brien, P Harnan, B Harnan; C Gillespie (0-2), D O’Connor; W Bright, R O’Connell, G Grogan; C Mulhall (0-4, three frees), M Hughes, S O’Rourke (0-1). Subs: F McCabe (1-1) for Hughes (34).
Referee: D Smyth (Meath).
Athlone CC 1-7 Salesian, Celbridge 0-9
A CONOR Mulry goal deep into second-half stoppage time gave Athlone Community College a dramatic one-point victory at Celbridge yesterday afternoon.
A second point from the excellent Ronan Byrne on the stroke of 60 minutes looked like it had sealed Salesians place in the next round, but Mulry had other ideas, as he finished low past Salesians netminder Seán Holmes
ATHLONE CC: M McMahon; J Donohue, B Shaughnessy, J Burke; D Donnelly (0-1), R Daly, E Fallon (0-1); R McManus (0-1), R Connellan; C Mulry (1-0), R Morris, M Darling; S Farrell (0-1), R Donohoe (0-2), D Brookes (0-1). Subs: M Flannery for Fallon (h-t), E Donohoe for R Donohoe (62).
SALESIAN COLLEGE: S Holmes; B Nolan, E Conaty, B Flynn; J Costello, D Corcoran, R Cheasty; J Doran, P Brophy (0-3, two frees); C Mooney (0-3, one free), R Harding, S Ryan (0-1); R Byrne (0-2), S O’Flynn, B O’Donovan. Subs: R Farrell for O’Donovan (30), P Martin for Harding (55).
Referee: P Carr (Dublin).
Patrician Newbridge 4-15 Portmarnock CS 0-6
DELIVERING quality ball into the full-forward line and working Portmarnock hard in all areas of the pitch, Patrician, Newbridge were good value for their win which saw them record goals from Ryan Houlihan, Donal Dempsey and Cian McConnell in the last 10 minutes.
Ronan Fitzpatrick also landed six frees for the winners.
PORTMARNOCK CS: D Stuart; N Conlon, M Gavin, L Dowd; H Bradshaw, D Ryan, J Briggs; C Dunne, A Mulvey; C O’Neill, N Murphy (0-2), T Whelan; D Redmond (0-4, frees), J McCabe, S Nangle. Subs: A Malone for Briggs (50), J Bidhawat for Whelan (52), P Mariotti for O’ Neill (55), G McRory for Mulvey (59)
PATRICIAN NEWBRIDGE: T Kinsella; A Scully, K Scully, T Kealy; A Murphy, D Hartley, L Healy; R Moore (0-1), A Burke (0-3); C McConnell (1-0), R Houlihan (1-2), D McHugh (0-1); D Malone (0-1), L McDermott (1-0), R Fitzgibbon (0-7, six frees). Subs: D Dempsey (1-0) for Malone (21), C Kavanagh for Hartley (ht), K Lynch for Murphy (50), C Hanafin for Houlihan (53), R O’Shea for Kealy 59 mins.
Referee: P Neilis (Meath).
St Mary's, Edenderry 1-11 Marist College, Athlone 1-6
ONE of the competition favourites, St Mary’s, Edenderry, advanced with a fairly comfortable win at Edenderry yesterday.
They had to contend with a bright opening for the visitors, with Eoin Monahan finding the net after just five minutes .
The teams exchanged points until St Mary’s struck for a vital 29th-minute goal. Daniel Flynn flicked Ger Leech’s free into the Marist net,.
Leading 1-4 to 1-2 at the break, St Mary’s controlled the second period and finished strongly with points from Seán Doyle, Conor McNamee, Cian McMonagle, Leech and Rory McNamee.
ST MARY’S: C Hurley; M Kearney, L Flynn, C McNamee (0-1); J Dowdall, P Foy, S Moriarty; D Grehan (0-1), D Flynn (1-0); R Caffrey, M Nolan (0-1), K McNally; C McMonagle (0-1), G Leech (0-1, free), S Doyle (0-4). Subs: R McNamee (0-2) for McMonagle (15 mins); C McMonagle for McNally (36); S Haslam for Leech (56).
MARIST COLLEGE: S Mannion; D Boland, J Barrett, E Maher; M McArdle, N McInerney, S Carey; R Henshaw, A Curley; R Ashe (0-1), E Monaghan (1-1), TJ Fox; A O’Sullivan, A Gardiner (0-2, frees), A Gleeson (0-2). Subs: B Kenny for Boland (33); C Marlowe for Fox (45); D Cunniffe for Gardiner (61).
Referee: A Lagrue (Kildare).
Cl Iosagáin, Portarlington 2-10 St Fintan's, Sutton 2-5
COLÁISTE Íosagáin won in the end with five points to spare, but in truth the gap between these teams should have been far wider. They were by far the better side but their tardiness and tendency to fade in and out of the game could have proved costly against a better opposition.
St Fintan’s High School, to their credit, never gave up the battle but for most of the game played second fiddle to the Portarlington school.
The Sutton school opened the scoring with a Daniel Fallon point after just 20 seconds but were not to score for another 23 minutes.
The complexion of the game changed utterly in the 27th minute, when against the run of play, Ciaráan Gallagher blasted to the net to leave just three points separating the sides at half-time.
On the restart Coláiste Íosagáin upped the pace once again and when Rory Galvin goaled two minutes in it looked like curtains for St Fintan’s.
But once again Coláiste Íosagáin eased up after opening up an eigh-point gap and allowed St Fintan’s back into the contest.
Coláiste Íosagáin regrouped and finished strongly to deservedly come away with the win.
COLÁISTE ÍOSAGÁIN: E Nolan; G Fitzmaurice, H Weldon, J Molloy; J Evans, T Brerton, D Barron; L Guinan, R Reynolds (0-2); M Kirwan, R Galvin (1-3), N Murphy (0-1); P Kelly (0-1), S Lawless (0-3), A Broughan (1-0).
ST FINTAN’S HS: J Dowling; D Maher, J O;Grady, P Fitzsimons; M Grennan, M McCarthy, I Daly; A McCann (1-0), J Dempsey; G White (0-1), D Fallon (0-1), D Cahill; C Gallagher (1-0), T Ó Cuinneagáin (0-3), N Connolly. Subs: B Foley for Connolly (18), R Latton for Fitzmaurice (26), P Adams for Dempsey (39).
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly)
