Marist advance to knockout stages as group winners

Marist College secured top spot in their Leinster Schools SF 'A' Championship group with a 3-15 to 2-13 victory over Malahide CS at St Sylvester's GAA in Dublin on Tuesday last.

Having claimed three wins from three games in Section 7, Marist will now meet St Peter's College, Dunboyne in the preliminary knockout round, with the winners advancing to the Br Bosco Cup quarter-finals.

As group winners, the Athlone side will have home advantage in their clash with Section 5 runners-up Dunboyne, with the game due to be played early next month.

Last week, Marist College defeated St Mel’s College by 4-12 to 1-15 to move within the brink of qualification for the knockout stages. There were defensive frailties aplenty, but much more to be encouraged about for Marist College management and players in the victory at Caulry GAA.

Impressive in patches with size and talent in key positions along the centre of the pitch, they powered past St Mel’s to cement their status as dangerous outsiders in the 2025 race for the Brother Bosco Cup.

For all the undoubted talents of Zac Mullally in goal, Marist would prefer if the Clann na nGael player wasn’t required to do as much in future, while there was a lack of conviction about how they finished the game, allowing St Mel’s to rally and reduce the winning margin.

Nonetheless, there was a lot to like about the play of the Athlone school. All along the spine of the team they were particularly impressive. Tadhg Fallon had a tough assignment up against an elite scoring threat in Longford U-20 attacker James Hagan and but for a misplaced pass from a colleague, he would have conceded just one point from play to the elusive attacker. Diarmuid O’Higgins was solid and powerful at centre-back while the midfield duo of Adam Smyth and Donal Dawson was powerful and mobile, with good direct attacking intent throughout.

However it was the attacking spine that really set the Marist apart. James McHugh gave a wonderful display of finishing while Seán Whittaker was the fulcrum of everything good at centre-forward, picking apart the St Mel’s defence time and again.

This wasn’t so much a game of two halves as it was a game of three thirds in what were surprisingly benign conditions, given the amount of rain that fell in the lead up to the game. The first third could be described as stodgy, with just five points kicked on what was exceptionally firm ground and with no breeze to speak of. Both sides struggled to break the opposition lines around 40 metres from their own goal, so there was a lot of side-to-side movement of the ball without any real penetration.

In between a handful of missed chances, McHugh and Whittaker hit a point each before ST Mel’s finally got off the mark with a 45 in the 16th minute, and the sides traded scores once more before the contest finally gathered some momentum approaching half-time.

Mullally’s first big play of the game saw him show wonderful reflexes to get down low and block James Hagan’s shot from 12 metres and Marist’s transition attack from there was lightning quick, with Whittaker making an excellent catch to set up a Darragh Lough run and point.

After McHugh added the game’s only two-pointer from a free, Seán McDonnell made a wonderful interception but then misplaced a pass to allow James Hagan to fire in a goal to level the game.

At the other end, a high ball into the Mel’s square was broken down by Dawson into William Geraghty, who showed good composure in traffic to place the ball to the bottom corner, making it 1-7 to 1-4 at the interval.

By the midway point of the second half, Marist were nine points clear having hit the net twice more. Diarmuid O’Higgins’ interception and a magnificent 50-metre kick pass from Whittaker into McHugh enabled the Garrycastle man to rattle the net five minutes into the second half.

It was Whittaker who blocked down a handpass for the school’s third goal, quickly exchanging passes with Cian Duffy before leaving McHugh with just the keeper to beat.

The final phase of the game saw St Mel’s begin to dominate the kickout battle, with their effervescent half back line – scorers of 0-5 from play between them – driving forward to put Marist on the back foot. James Hagan, Mark Cooney, Michael Gacquin and Conor Reynolds are far from imposing in physical terms but they were relentlessly energetic and positive in driving the 29-time Leinster champions forward, winning frees and eating away at the lead.

With five between the sides and five minutes still to play, a Mel’s goal might have made for a nervous finish, but when they did test Mullally, he was more than equal to the challenge. Instead, two hammer blows in 30 seconds killed the contest.

Cian Duffy, a Leinster medallist with the Offaly minors earlier this year, had experienced a frustrating afternoon up to that point, missing one goal chance early on, but he kept his composure to split the posts with an elegant kick from the right wing. And once McHugh intercepted the subsequent kickout, he was able to take the ball from his captain and neatly sidestep Adam McCormack for a fourth Marist goal.

Three more St Mel’s points extended the sense that Marist weren’t exactly powering over the line, but at various stages the Athlone students had done enough to demonstrate their potential to develop into a dangerous opponent for any of the competition front runners. Maximising that potential will be the challenge for their management team from here.

Player of the match: Seán Whittaker (Marist College). Zac Mullally was solid under a high ball and really sharp with his shot-stopping, Adam Smyth was a stalwart in the middle and James McHugh finished his chances well, but Whittaker’s class was apparent throughout as he put in another outstanding performance. St Mel’s captain Mark Cooney has packed a fair bit into his young career already and if his lack of size doesn’t hold him back, he has the potential to play senior intercounty football.

Scorers - Marist: J McHugh 2-7 (1tpf, 0-2f); C Duffy 1-1; W Geraghty 1-0; S Whittaker 0-2; D Lough, D Dawson 0-1 each. St Mel’s: J Hagan 1-7 (0-6f); M Gacquin, C Lynch, M Cooney (1 45), 0-2 each; C Reynolds, J Shannon 0-1 each.

Marist College, Athlone - Zac Mullally (Clann na nGael); Aidan Brennan (St Dominic’s), Tadhg Fallon (St Brigid’s), Gary Staunton (Tubberclair); William Geraghty (Maryland), Diarmuid O’Higgins (Clann na nGael), Jacob Bourke (Castledaly); Adam Smyth (Maryland), Donal Dawson (Ahane); John Timlin (Clann na nGael), Seán Whittaker (Tubberclair), Darragh Lough (Athlone); Cian Duffy (Doon), James McHugh (Garrycastle), Seán McDonnell (St Brigid’s). Subs used: Andrew Henson (Garrycastle) for Geraghty (half-time), Darragh Murray (Moate All Whites) for Lough (49 mins), Darragh Glennon (Garrycastle) for Timlin (55), Andrew Cotton (St Dominic’s) for Smyth (60).

St Mel’s College, Longford - Adam McCormack; Cian Gilna, Billy Maguire, Ezekiel Da Costa; Michael Gacquin, Mark Cooney, Cathal Lynch; Conor Doherty, James Shannon; Jack Finnegan, Conor Reynolds, Michael Glennon; Senan Buckley, James Hagan, Adam McCarthy. Sub used: Oisín McHugh for Buckley (h-t).

Referee - Bernard Heaney (Meath).