Masita All-Ireland Post-Primary Schools Croke Cup quarter-final

St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny 2-28 St. Raphael’s College, Loughrea 0-13

By Kevin Egan at McDonagh Park, Nenagh

A masterful, clinical display from St. Kieran’s easily saw off St. Raphael’s College in a one-sided Croke Cup quarter-final clash at McDonagh Park in Nenagh this afternoon, as the famous Kilkenny institution secured their path through what’s sure to be a fantastic battle with Harty Cup winners Cashel Community School in a fortnight’s time.

Brian Dowling’s side wasted no time in hitting the ground running here, even as they hurled into a strong breeze at the north Tipperary venue. With ten minutes gone they were 0-5 to 0-2 in front, with Ed McDermott hugely impressive up front, while further down the field, Killian Doyle, Aaron McEvoy and Jeff Neary were controlling the middle third.

St. Raphael’s potted some nice scores from distance, the pick of the bunch being Shane Concannon’s cleanly-struck effort from midfield, but they were struggling to get any traction close to goal, where the injury-enforced absence of Vince Morgan was telling a tale.

0-7 to 0-4 after 15 minutes left them with a lot of work to do, but by half-time they were left with mountain of Tibetan proportions to climb, having fallen nine points adrift. A penalty goal from Harry Shine was a hammer blow, but Aaron McEvoy was also racking up scores from frees and from play, pushing the lead out to 1-14 to 0-8.

Bobby Feeney and Paddy Mac Carthaigh were on target with some excellent points for St. Raphael’s after half-time as they tried to work their way back into the contest, picking off three of the first five points of the second half. Try as they might however, St. Kieran’s just had power and class in every position, and that soon began to tell. Between the 40th and 55th minute the Kilkenny side outscored their opponents by 1-8 to 0-1, and it was notable that even as they emptied their bench, taking off some of their star performers, players like Rory Glynn, Matthew Kelleher and Anthony Ireland Wall picked up where their predecessors left off, picking off points and keeping standards very high right up until the final whistle.

Donagh Murphy’s whipped ground pull from 25 metres, taking advantage of defensive confusion in the St. Raphael’s back line, resulted in a second goal, while McEvoy brought his tally to an even dozen points when he cut through and blasted a goal chance narrowly over the bar in the closing minutes. Any concerns about a dip in form from the aristocrats of the schools’ hurling scene were well and truly blown away by the 23-time Croke Cup champions this afternoon, as they set the stage perfectly for their semi-final clash with the first-time Harty Cup winners of Cashel Community School.

Scorers for St. Kieran’s: Aaron McEvoy 0-12 (0-7f), Donagh Murphy 1-2, Harry Shine 1-1 (1-0 pen), Ed McDermott 0-4, Niall Shortall 0-2, Ed Dunne 0-2, Killian Doyle 0-1, Tom McPhillips 0-1, Rory Glynn 0-1, Anthony Ireland Wall 0-1, Matthew Kelleher 0-1.

Scorers for St. Raphael’s: Leon Connaire 0-4 (0-3f), Bobby Feeney 0-2, Paddy Mac Carthaigh 0-2, Eoghan Mulleady 0-2, Shane Concannon 0-1, Shane Murray 0-1f, Diarmuid MacCarthaigh 0-1.

St. Kierans: Stephen Manogue; Bobby Murphy, Bill Hughes, Timmy Kelly; Tom McPhillips, Killian Corcoran, Pádraig Naddy; Jeff Neary, Aaron McEvoy; Ed McDermott, Harry Shine, Killian Doyle; Niall Shortall, Ted Dunne, Donagh Murphy.

Subs: Anthony Ireland Wall for Shortall (45), Rory Glynn for McDermott (45), Cathal Hickey for McPhillips (51), Seán Hunt for Doyle (51), Matthew Kelleher for (Shine (53).

St. Raphael’s: Shane Murray; Gavin Maher, Conor Headd, Donnacha Campbell; Luke McInerney, Shane Concannon, Daniel Keane; Stephen Keane, Niall Dillon; Marcus Burns, Paddy Mac Carthaigh, Eoghan Mulleady; Diarmuid Mac Carthaigh, Leon Connaire, Bobby Feeney.

Subs: Niall Keane for Burns (57), Niel Botes for D Mac Carthaigh (58), Cormac Cooney for D Keane (58), Joe Dervan for Dillon (60), Bryan Fleming for Feeney (60).

Referee: Eamon Stapleton (Limerick).