Moate CS prepare for strong St Peter's challenge

MOATE Community School have been tipped in many quarters to go all the way in this year's highly-competitive Leinster Colleges SF championship, but they face a mighty test of their title credentials when they face St Peter's Wexford on Saturday (12noon venue TBC later in the week). Moate, under the wily stewardship of Peter Tormey and Dessie Dolan, comfortably brushed aside St Joseph's, Rochfortbridge in the second round, after receiving a bye in the opening round. But they're going to come up against fairly formidable opposition this weekend, with St Peter's Wexford in bouyant mood after eliminating another of the competition's favourites, St Pat's of Navan, in the second round. Moate coach Dessie Dolan said they expect to again be without Eamon McCabe, who missed the previous match with a thigh muscle injury. Dolan said McCabe's chances of featuring this weekend are "probably less than 50-50", but that Moate can give a good account of themselves if they perform to their potential. "St Peter's are going to be very strong. They're obviously going to be confident after beating St Pat's of Navan, which was a huge result for them. They also had a big win in the Leinster Colleges Senior Hurling Championship last week (against St Brendan's Birr), so their morale is going to be very high. At this stage in the competition, every opponent is going to be very good, you don't get many easy quarter-finals. We're playing well enough at the moment, and the lads are training hard. You just don't know with school football, unfortunately the wheels can come off at any stage, but we'd like to think we've a very good chance on Saturday if we play to our potential," said Dessie. "Our lads are a very decent outfit when they play as they can, and hopefully we'll see that at the weekend," he added. At time of going to print, a venue for the quarter-final clash was unconfirmed, but Dolan said the most likely venue is IT Carlow's pitch. Other than the injury to McCabe, Dolan said Moate expect to have a full-strength panel for Saturday, with the likes of Cian Bradley, James Ganly, Patrick Holloway, Luke Kelly, Niall O'Brien and John Rock giving the team a very solid structure on which to build, while corner-forwards Lorcan Dolan and Martin Rock are a constant menace to defenders. Moate notched an impressive 2-13 against St Joseph's, Rochfortbridge, with eight of the scores coming from frees (four apiece for Bradley and O'Brien), while only conceding a mere 1-3. After also winning the North Leinster League title earlier in the season, it's easy to see why Moate are tipped by many observers to go mightily close to this year's title, but the wide open nature of the competition ensures St Peter's will present a very challenging obstacle to their ambitions. Athlone Community College are also in the quarter-finals, after beating Kildare sides Salesian College, Celbridge, and Patrician, Newbridge, in the previous rounds. They face a highly rated St Mary's Edenderry at Páirc Chiaráin, Athlone on Friday, February 17 at 1pm. The other quarter-final ties sees the holders, Dundalk Colleges take on Knockbeg College, and Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar face Coláiste Eoin