Valiant Marist fall short as St Pat's hold on

GAA: Leinster Post Primary Schools Senior Football ‘A’ Championship

St Patrick’s, Navan 1-10 Marist College, Athlone 0-11

Gerry Buckley reports

The long and frustrating wait for the senior footballers from Marist College, Athlone to get their hands on the coveted Brother Bosco Cup will extend to 2024, at least.

Despite a very good display in cold but dry conditions at Páirc Tailteann, Navan last Tuesday, the Marist exited the Leinster championship with a two-point defeat at the hands of the local St Patrick’s Classical School team.

This was a very entertaining contest, played in the best traditions of schools’ football. St Patrick’s were warmly fancied to advance to the quarter-finals with a bit to spare, but they were mightily relieved to hear the final whistle having done well not to concede what would almost certainly have been a fatal goal with just seconds remaining.

Billy Smyth pointed for the wind-assisted home team after a mere ten seconds when he might have goaled. Exactly a minute later, his opposite number Bobby Nugent superbly equalised from a tight angle. Wing back Lorcan O’Connor edged St Patrick’s ahead in the third minute with a fly-kicked shot which could easily have found the net.

The Athlone lads soon made it 0-2 apiece, the ever-dangerous Nugent scoring a low-trajectory point after fielding the ball from what appeared to be a mishit free by Thomas Bourke.

The black and amber-clad side proceeded to rattle over four unanswered points between the tenth and 16th minutes courtesy of Matthew Kealy (a brace of fine frees taken from the ground), O’Connor’s second from play, and a great score via the crossbar by Neil McGinley.

In the 20th minute, Nugent slotted over a routine free, but two more free conversions by Kealy – both awards were preventable from a Marist perspective – left the three-time Hogan Cup winners ahead by 0-8 to 0-3 at the interval.

The Marist side needed two trips to their dressing room from the referee to come out for the second moiety, with their opponents already in situ on the pitch. A possibly stern half-time team talk seemed to have worked when they started the half brightly with a very useful wind behind them, and a great free from Nugent and a neat score from play by Ben Donegan (with Nugent as the provider) had the gap down to three points by the 36th minute.

However, moments after a let-off when a Smyth flick from close range somehow came back into play via the post, the latter player teed up Cian Commons, who duly rifled an unstoppable shot into the roof of Kailin Blessing’s net in the 39th minute.

A great free from his hands by Nugent ensued at the other end. Andrew Stuart Trainor scored a fine team point for the young men in blue and gold, before his opposite number Robbie Finnegan was wide from what would have been a great solo goal had his shot been more accurate.

The Marist lads continued to patiently claw their way back and four points without reply between the 48th and 55th minutes had them on level terms (1-8 to 0-11). The scores came from the boots of Daire O’Connor, Nugent (two – a wonderful effort from play and a free), and a terrific shot from Tadhg Baker.

However, a Smyth brace gave the winners a little breathing space approaching the end of normal time, and their defence stood tall in a dramatic finale when a dangerous Marist ‘45’ in the third minute of added-time was cleared, with the final whistle blowing immediately afterwards.

Man of the match: Bobby Nugent (Marist College). He may have been on the losing side, but his seven-point haul included scores of the highest quality, both from open play and frees.

Key moment: Cian Commons’ 39th-minute goal may have been St Patrick’s only score in the opening 24 minutes of the second half, but it proved to be the clinching moment of the game.

Scorers – St Patrick’s: M Kealy 0-4 (4f), C Commons 1-0, B Smyth 0-3, L O’Connor 0-2, N McGinley 0-1. Marist College: B Nugent 0-7 (4f), T Baker, B Donegan, D O’Connor and A Stuart Trainor 0-1 each.

St Patrick’s CS, Navan: Luke Healy; Séimí Byrne, James Reeves, Breandán McGuinness; Matthew Kealy, Danny Waters, Lorcan O’Connor; Tadhg Martyn, Darren O’Brien; Ciaran Quinn, Cian Commons, Andrew Canavan; Neil McGinley, Billy Smyth, Robbie Finnegan. Subs used: Eoghan Nugent for Quinn (35 mins), Ben Corkery for McGinley (44), Andrew Gorman for Canavan (56).

Marist College, Athlone: Kailin Blessing (Tubberclair); Owen McNamara (Athlone), Michael Henry (Moate All Whites), Josh Kenny (Athlone); Jack Mulvihill (Garrycastle), Killian Redmond (Garrycastle), Cian Geary (Athlone); Tadhg Baker (Caulry), Thomas Bourke (Tubberclair); Ben Donegan (Garrycastle), Daire O'Connor (Tubberclair), Kealan Connell (Tubberclair); Oisín Shortall (Caulry), Bobby Nugent (St Brigid's), Andrew Stuart Trainor (Caulry). Subs used: Piaras Rohan (Athlone) for Geary (43 mins), Daniel Reid (Tubberclair) for Bourke (48), Oisín Flynn (St Aidan’s) for Donegan (58), Johnny Martin (Athlone) for O'Connor (58).

Referee: Brian O’Connor (Dublin).

Footnote: During the interval, a presentation was made to the recently-retired principal of St Patrick’s, Meath legend Colm O’Rourke, in the company of the three winning captains of the Hogan Cup teams he had managed – Shane McKeigue (2000), Kevin Slattery (2001) and Ciaran Kenny (2004).