St Brendan’s College fancied to claim Frewen Cup crown from Flannans

MUNSTER COLLEGES U-16 1/2 ‘A’ FC (FREWEN CUP) FINAL St Brendan’s Killarney v St Flannan’s Ennis Wednesday, February 28 Rathkeale at 1.30pm

AFTER playing their first two games in the space of six days nearly a month ago, St Brendans College find themselves competing for the Frewen Cup title against a side who only booked their place in the decider last week in the form of St Flannans, Ennis. The ‘quick burst and long wait’ nature of the campaign hasn’t unduly affected the Sem according to their manager Kieran Herlihy however.

“The one thing that helps is that the start of the County Minor League is keeping the players match sharp. We’re doing the same training that clubs are doing with the players so there is no conflict there. As it stands we also are pretty much injury free heading into next Wednesday,” Herlihy said.

The Frewen Cup has always been a well-regarded Post-Primary competition but the introduction of an All-Ireland series (Paul McGirr Cup) in 2014 - and the dropping of the Minor age grade to U-17 - has made the Junior schools level (U16½) more prestigious and also now a good form guide to Corn Uí Mhuirí level with Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne reaching the Senior (U18½) decider last Saturday after Frewen and Paul McGirr success last year.

“There’s no doubt Pobalscoil’s win in the Paul McGirr last year has raised the profile and interest of this level to neutrals and having the Dunloe Cup win over them (Pobalscoil) before Christmas was good from the point of view of keeping the players focussed on the Frewen when we met over the festive season,” the Sem’s manager said.

The Sem started with an ef- fective but not fantastic win over Intermediate School, Killorglin as a brilliant individual goal by Emmet O’Shea was the highlight of a 1-16 to 0-5 win over the Mid Kerry school in late January in Lewis Road, Killarney.

They went up to Mallow the following week to face a Hamilton High School Bandon side that had caused a bit of a stir in beating a fancied Tralee CBS side in the Quarter-Finals. Herlihy was happy with how The Sem came through an at times tricky 2-14 to 0-9 win over the West Cork outfit.

“I would definitely say there was an improvement in performance from the Killorglin to the Bandon game, at times when they were asking a few questions of us in the second-half the lads responded well and made the right decisions on the ball when decisions had to be made,” he said.

O’Shea, Kieran O’Donoghue, Darragh Donohoe, Neil O’Shea, Michael Lenihan, Niall McGuillycuddy, Ryan O’Grady and Dylan O’Callaghan have emerged as some of the more promising players for The Sem in their campaign thus far but Herlihy is conscious of the challenge St Flannans, the renowned dual school from Ennis will bring today to Rathkeale.

“They beat the school (Sem) in the U-15 Final and they have registered 17 and 18 scores in both their games so that not only indicates good shooting but also a good sign of skills in the school that they have the ability to get that amount. We prefer to focus on the strength of our unit as a whole rather than what individuals do for us and we’re happy to be heading to Rathkeale where we have gone a lot recently at all levels to play St Flannans in Schools games.”

Always a bit of the unknown in calling underage games, and especially the ones at younger levels where surprises are more likely, but this looks to be a strong Sem side on the evidence of the two games so far. They should have the ability to win the Frewen for the Killarney school for the first time since 2015 when a lesser known David Clifford was starting to make waves.

Verdict: St Brendans College