Oisin Salmon, Presentation Athenry, and Darragh Maher, St Kieran's College, Kilkenny during the Masita All Ireland A Post Primary Final at Bord Na Mona O'Connor Park.
Masita All Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior A Hurling Final
St. Kieran’s College, Kilkenny 1-15 Presentation College, Athenry 1-12
By Kevin Egan at Bord Na Mona O’Connor Park
The kings of schools hurling are back on top of their throne as St. Kieran’s College secured their 23rd Croke Cup at the expense of Presentation College of Athenry.
This final is unlikely to be remembered in the same vein as some of the other famous victories that the Kilkenny school has enjoyed down the years, but the sense that they were standing on the shoulders of giants before them was certainly palpable in the final 20 minutes of the contest when they gradually seized the initiative and found the resolve to force their way over the line against their Galway opponents.
Presentation Athenry came into this contest bidding to become only the second every Galway school to lift this prestigious trophy, and for long stretches of the tie it seemed as if they were going to give themselves every chance of doing so. St. Kieran’s struggled to find their range in the early stages, hitting the target with just two of their first eight attempts for a score, despite playing with the aid of the wind, albeit a relatively light, diagonal breeze.
One of those attempts was a shot for goal from Eoin Cody that crashed off the base of the goalpost and out to safety, as Tom Hogan’s side struggled to convert their slight edge in terms of possession and territory into scores.
Cody was their only scorer for the first 23 minutes of the game, and while Presentation College were equally dependent on Clarinbridge livewire Mark Kennedy at the other end, the Galway side would have been the happier side to be level at 0-7 each at half time. Martin O’Connell and Aaron Brennan chipped in with excellent scores for St. Kieran’s, but the Athenry side hung in there and drew level deep into injury time thanks to an excellent score out of traffic from TJ Brennan.
Evan Cody picked off the first three points of the second half, two from frees and one from play, but the contest was blown wide open when Brandon Lee set up Mark Kennedy for the game’s first goal with 39 minutes on the clock. St. Kieran’s drew level, but Kennedy and Brennan added further scores to push Athenry two points clear, and with the wind behind them, the noise levels rising from their supporters and just 15 minutes to play, the foundations had been laid.
Yet in those closing 15 minutes, Presentation College found it hard to push up and drive home their advantage as they felt the nervousness one might expect from a school that had never known glory at this level, while St. Kieran’s played with all the composure one might expect from a group 15 years their senior. As the Athenry students fell back into defence, space opened up around midfield, giving the Kilkenny side that bit more time to pick out good deliveries into the Presentation College full back line.
One such long ball wasn’t properly cleared and after a goalmouth scramble, Conor Kelly got the decisive touch to force the sliothar over the line to edge St. Kieran’s in front.
Killian Egan fired over two majestic points from distance, David Blanchfield added another stunning score from the right-hand sideline, and title number 23 was soon secured.
Scorers for St. Kieran’s: Eoin Cody 0-8 (6fs), Conor Kelly 1-0, David Blanchfield and Killian Egan 0-2 each, Martin O’Connell, Ciarán Brennan & Aaron Brennan 0-1 each.
Scorers for Presentation College: Mark Kennedy 1-8 (0-5f), TJ Brennan 0-2, Gavin Lee and Adam Clarke 0-1 each.
ST KIERAN'S: Dean Mason; Darragh O'Keeffe, Pádraic O'Neill, Jamie Young; Darragh Corcoran, Conor Murphy, Killian Egan; David Blanchfield, Martin O'Connell; Ciarán Brennan, Eoin Cody, Aaron Brennan; Cian Kenny, Conor Hoban, Darragh Maher.
Subs: Conor Kelly for Hoban (48), Dacel Fwamba for O’Connell (52), Jack Brennan for Murphy (59).
PRESENTATION COLLEGE: Patrick Rabbitte; Christy Brennan, Eoin Lawless, Jason Reilly; Oisín Salmon, Shane Quirke, Donal Parr; Ian McGlynn, Brandon Lee; Seán Burke, Mark Kennedy, TJ Brennan; Adam Brett, Adam Clarke, Gavin Lee.
Subs: Jason Joyce for Lee (55), Liam Leen for Lee (57).
REFEREE: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
