St Aloysius set for Connacht final after win over Rice College

St Aloysius College are preparing for the Connacht Colleges Senior ‘B’ Championship final against St Attracta’s CS, Tubbercurry in Castlerea tomorrow (Saturday, 1pm).
The Athlone side defeated Rice College, Westport in the semi-final on Thursday of last week on a 1-16 to 1-5 scoreline.
The late dramatics of eight days previous weren’t needed at Ballinlough against Rice College. Having stuttered over the line in the opening round against St Nathy’s and after escaping from Menlough the previous week by the skin of their teeth, St Aloysius finally hit top gear with an emphatic win over Rice College to book their place in the Connacht final.
On the evidence of the semi-final, the Athlone school wouldn’t look one bit out of place in the 'A' championship. Theirs was an awesome display full of work-rate and superb score-taking to which the Westerners had no answer.
Such was the dominance of their performance, it really was impossible to tell how good or bad Rice College were. Perhaps they were poor but any day you beat a school with a tradition for colleges football as noteworthy as the Mayo school’s by 11 points is a good day whatever way you slice it.
Right down the middle, Aloysius’ dominated for the 60 minutes with Ciaran O’Reilly again extremely solid at centre-back, Stevie Flynn and Ultan Harney in charge at midfield, Rian McNamara on top form at centre-forward and Darra Pettit and David Brookes in the groove up front.
All that meant that, by half-time, the game was over as a contest.
A 26th-minute goal by Caulry’s David Brookes really set St Aloysius on their way. The move started with Stevie Flynn down the left wing. The ball was moved to Shane Lacey and then on to Darra Pettit. The full-forward took his man in along the end line before pulling back to Brookes, who dummied onto his left and unsurprisingly found the net from close range.
The dismissal of Jake O’Shea added to the misery of the Westport side.
St Attracta’s of Tubbercurry await in the final in Castlerea on Saturday and, on this evidence, Aloysius have every chance of being crowned champions.

St Aloysius College, Athlone: A. McManus; A. O’Reilly, D. Lynam, P. Harney; J. Connaughton, C. O’Reilly, S. Pettit; S. Flynn, U. Harney (0-2); K. McKiernan, R. McNamara (0-4, 1f), S. Lacey (0-1); J. Fahy (0-3, 1f), D. Pettit (0-2), D. Brookes (1-3, 0-1f). Subs used: S. McCormack (0-1) for Connaughton (24 mins), C. Callinan for Lacey (45).
 
Rice College, Westport: A. McDonnell; T. McHale, C. Keane, K. Dever; C. Moran, J. O’Shea, S. Tobin; B. Mullen, C. O’Malley (0-3, 1f, 0-1 ‘45’); R. Geraghty, D. Keaveney, N. Tierney; J. Dowd, N. Feehan (0-1), A. Carroll (0-1f). Subs used: Zack O’Toole for Geraghty (42 mins), M. Salmon for Moran (52), M. Golden for Feehan (54), R. Keely (1-0) for Dowd (54).
 
Player of the Match
Ultan Harney (St Aloysius College). The driving force behind this Aloysius team, his influence was heavily evident last week as the Clann na nGael midfielder, along with his clubmate Stevie Flynn, dominated the middle sector.
Rian McNamara, Darra Pettit and, particularly, David Brookes were in top form up front while it is worth noting the outstanding performance of the entire half-back line.
For Rice, there was little to be cheerful about but Alan Carroll, Niall Feehan and Jake O’Shea, before his dismissal for dissent, all put in decent showings.

Wides: St Aloysius’ College 7; Rice College 6.
 
Yellow Cards: St. Aloysius’ College – none; Rice College – A. Carroll (5 mins), B. Mullen (39), J. O’Shea (54 mins x2).
 
Red Cards: St. Aloysius’ College - none; Rice College – J. O’Shea (54 mins).