St. Joseph's, Borrisoleigh crowned All-Ireland champions

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

ST. JOSEPH’S, BORRISOLEIGH 2-17 COLÁISTE NAOMH CORMAC, KILCORMAC 2-12

By Kevin Egan at Borrisokane

Nature has all of it’s own signs that Summer is coming, but it felt like Summer arrived in style this afternoon in Borrisokane where the sun shone, the crowds supporting St. Joseph’s and Coláiste Naomh Cormac turned out in force, and the players rounded off the occasion by producing a marvellous sporting occasion, one that culminated in St. Joseph’s of Borrisoleigh claiming the Michael Cusack Cup for the first time in the school’s history.

A historic occasion will live long in the memory for the manner of the game too, where St. Joseph’s had the best of things for the entire first half and they finished strongly with four points in a row, but Coláiste Naomh Cormac (CNC) – bidding to win their third All-Ireland senior schools title in five years – came like a train for a 10 minute spell midway through the second half, coming from ten points down to trail by one with little over five minutes remaining.

Throw in being delayed by five minutes to allow the crowd to make their way into the North Tipp venue showed the interest, and within 60 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 failed to convert enough of them into scores. St. Joseph’s deployment of a sweeper worked in their favour as they slowed down the ball coming out of the Offaly school’s backline, while at the other end CNC struggled to make it stick, instead having to try for scores from distance.

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 15 minutes into the second half and the lead was now ten, with two more glorious CNC goal chances having gone askew.

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 hope.

60 seconds later Lochlann Fletcher played an inviting pass across the middle that Mairtín Ryan flicked to the net, and there was a game on.

By now Luke Bracken, James Dooley and Fiachra Carroll were dominating the middle and a series of treacherous deliveries were sent into the St. Joseph’s goalmouth, but time and again Oisín Ryan and Daniel Groome made the catch or the batted clearance to keep their goal intact.

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.

Scorers for St. Joseph’s: Shane Ryan 0-6 (0-4f), Micheál Collins 0-6 (0-4f, 0-1 65), Michael Ryan 1-2, Cody Quirke 1-1, Liam Hackett 0-1, Eoin Ryan 0-1

Scorers for Coláiste Naomh Cormac: Jack Dunican 0-4 (0-2f), Aaron Screeney 0-4 (0-2f, 0-1 65), James Hennessy 1-1, Mairtín Ryan 1-1, Fiachra Carroll 0-2.

St. Joseph’s, Borrisoleigh: Oisín Ryan; Cormac Frend, Daniel Groome, Adam Whyte; Ciarán Troy, David Rabbitte, Jack Gould; Micheál Collins, Cathal Kennedy; Eoin Ryan, Shane Ryan, Michael Ryan; Liam Hackett, Eoghan Anderson, Cody Quirke.

Subs: Mark Hoare for Rabbitte (46), Billy O’Brien for E Ryan (47), Tadhg Kelly for Troy (52), Rabbitte for Anderson (59), Darragh Kelly for Quirke (60+3).

Coláiste Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac: James McLoughlin; Niall Fitzgerald, Tomás Carroll, Seán Cleary; AJ Bracken, Luke Bracken, James Dooley; James Hennessy, Joe Quinn; Seán Gill, Fiachra Carroll, Oisín McKeown; Lochlann Fletcher, Máirtín Ryan, Jack Dunican.

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

Referee: John Bugler (Clare).