Brave Peter’s bid falls short
Key first-half decisions went in favour of classy holders
ST. PETER’S College produced a spirited second-half rally to get within four points of an accomplished St. Brendan’s (Killarney) side with ten minutes left in Saturday’s Masita All-Ireland Post-Primary Schools Senior football ‘A’ championship final in Croke Park.
Ultimately though, the spoils deservedly returned to the Kingdom for the second year on the trot as the holders underlined their superior quality in the closing stages as they reeled off four points without reply.
It was a brave and determined effort from the Wexford representatives, but they simply came up against a superior team with greater experience of the big occasion deploying a lovely, economical style of direct football using traditional Kerry methods.
St. Peter’s may look back with some regret on a disallowed early goal from David Gouldson after Rory O’Connor surged down the centre before supplying the final pass.
That incident occurred in the second minute when both sides were still finding their feet, and it would certainly have done the challengers the world of good as their plans had already been disrupted when the ‘B’ final curtain-raiser went to extra-time.
That led to a no doubt anxious additional half-hour confined to the dressing-rooms, and one suspects that St. Brendan’s would have been better equipped to deal with this purely because of their involvement last year along with the presence of so many All-Ireland winning Kerry Minors in their ranks.
St. Brendan’s had won the toss and availed of the wind blowing into the Canal End, but the early attacks came from Peter’s as Conor Firman kicked the first of their seven wides after 30 seconds before that defence-splitting move.
Ben Moore popped a pass to Rory O’Connor who raced down the middle before releasing the ball to David Gouldson, with the ex-St. Mary’s (Rosslare) player who recently joined Sarsfields applying the finishing touch from close range.
Alas, referee Seán Hurson deemed that too many steps had been taken in the build-up, showing a lot more attention to fine detail than on his recent outing to Tralee when he permitted general lawlessness to prevail off the ball when Dublin drew with Kerry in the Allianz League.
St. Brendan’s took that let-off as their cue to step it up a gear, and last year’s All-Ireland winning Minor goalkeeper Billy Courtney, featuring at midfield on this occasion, opened their account from a free in the fourth minute when star attacker David Shaw was impeded.
Captain Dara Moynihan followed up with the first of the seven wides for the Munster lads before Barry O’Connor - who went on to have a superb game with four points from play - landed his first scoring attempt short into the arms of netminder Robert Osborne.
The holders had several attackers capable of kicking points off either foot, and their opening three from play were exclusively with the left as Ciarán Flynn registered after a block on Moynihan before rampant centre-forward Donnchadh O’Sullivan added two more.
A bit of good luck wouldn’t have gone astray to aid the Peter’s cause, but it didn’t come either in the twelfth minute when Barry O’Connor went down after a dangerous delivery from his first cousin, Rory, but the man in black didn’t feel he had been pushed so a penalty didn’t arise.
At least the Summerhill side got off the mark 60 seconds later when Cathal Devereux swung over a free off his left after a foul on Peter Barry (0-4 to 0-1).
St. Brendan’s continued to boss the general exchanges though, and they widened the gap to five as Mark O’Shea and Dara Moynihan joined the list of scorers.
Barry O’Connor had alternated briefly with Ben Moore in the middle of the attack, while full-back Ben Maddock was forced off for six minutes with a nosebleed. Conor Firman moved to the edge of the square while Michael Codd came in until the running repairs were concluded, and in that period Barry O’Connor picked off the first Peter’s point from play after a move which featured David Gouldson twice before he provided the last pass (0-6 to 0-2).
Every time the underdogs scored though, St. Brendan’s had plenty to offer in response. Wing-back Jack Griffin moved forward to split the posts before Billy Courtney ignored the jeers to slot over a ’45, and the classy David Shaw widened the gap to 9-2 after an uncharacteristic missed free from Cathal Devereux.
The main threat up front for Peter’s was coming from Barry O’Connor, and he was again set up by Gouldson for a point in the 27th minute.
Once again they couldn’t put two scores back-to-back though, with Shaw leaving Brendan’s seven clear at the break after he added another point in between wides from Brian Deeny and Dylan Furlong.
Five of the winners’ six forwards had raised a white flag from play before the break, and it was clear that it would take something very special from Peter’s to turn the tide.
And while they came up short in the end, to give them their due they certainly tried all they knew to unsettle the composed champions and enjoyed a lot of bright moments with the elements in their favour.
The gap was narrowed courtesy of midfielder Rory O’Connor inside three minutes of the re-start, as he latched on to a poor clearance after Dylan Furlong directed a ’45 into the goalmouth.
Brendan’s netminder Robert Osborne dropped another kick from the scorer shortly afterwards and was fortunate to be fouled, but Peter’s maintained the pressure as Ben Moore set up Barry O’Connor who reduced the deficit to 10-5.
A wide followed from Rory O’Connor before Donnchadh O’Sullivan settled the leaders with a point, but they conceded again in the 37th minute as the former and Finn O’Driscoll combined before Barry O’Connor knocked off his fourth from play off his left boot.
Just when Peter’s appeared to be building momentum, their rivals regained a strong grip and reeled off three points on the trot from Shaw, Courtney (free) and O’Sullivan to stretch their advantage to 14-6 by the 42nd minute.
However, the Leinster champions were in no mood to lie down, and they responded yet again with a very productive passage of dominance.
Four points were registered without reply between the 44th and 50th minutes, with Barry O’Connor kicking the first from a free before Cathal Devereux added three, with his second from play after a Rory O’Connor pass.
However, just under three minutes before he made it 14-10, the Our Lady’s Island attacker was on the end of the best Peter’s goal chance of the second-half.
An over-hit handpass wasn’t intended for substitute Dylan Lyne, but it did find him as he went to ground and the ball was moved swiftly to Devereux who pulled his shot across goal to the left and wide.
In the interest of balance it should be noted that Richie Ryan had saved expertly from Micheál Devlin just over a minute earlier.
While Devereux then narrowed the gap to four after a foul on Dylan Furlong, he kicked the last Peter’s wide from play before Brendan’s re-asserted their superiority in the concluding eight minutes plus added time.
Midfielder Courtney hit the target from a free after Ben Moore was booked for a challenge on Chris O’Donoghue, and substitute Micheál Devlin then claimed a mark before finishing the move which he started by fisting the ball over the bar (16-10).
A brilliant dummy hop by David Shaw sold a defender and was followed by a memorable point from distance, and the game became sloppy thereafter through a combination of a series of substitutions along with some frustrated attempts to win the ball from the losers.
They did nearly grab a consolation goal in the last minute of normal time when Barry O’Connor lobbed a ball in under the crossbar, but defender Seán O’Leary was on hand to make a last-gasp clearance.
Ben Moore was dismissed in added time for a late tackle on Cian Gammell, with Brendan’s captain Dara Moynihan picking off the last point before his defence cleared a free from Cathal Devereux and their celebrations began.
St. Peter’s: Richie Ryan (Glynn-Barntown); David O’Keeffe (Taghmon-Camross), Ben Maddock (St. Martin’s), Eoin O’Leary (St. Martin’s); Finn O’Driscoll (St. Anne’s), Conor Firman (St. Martin’s, capt.), Quinn Saunders (Our Lady’s Island); Brian Deeny (Volunteers), Rory O’Connor (St. Martin’s, 0-1); Peter Barry (St. Martin’s), Ben Moore (St. Anne’s), Dylan Furlong (Sarsfields); Cathal Devereux (Our Lady’s Island, 0-4, 3 frees), Barry O’Connor (St. Martin’s, 0-5, 1 free), David Gouldson (Sarsfields). Subs. - Michael Codd (St. Martin’s) for Maddock, temp. (17-23), Dylan Lyne (Glynn-Barntown) for Gouldson (HT), Jack Devereux (St. Martin’s) for Barry (57), Codd for O’Driscoll (59), Aaron Breen (Glynn-Barntown) for Furlong (60+4), also Jake Clancy (Sarsfields), Cormac Rowe (Glynn-Barntown), Patrick Glover (Volunteers), Adam Cantwell (St. Martin’s), Kyle Firman (St. Martin’s), Cian Meyler (Our Lady’s Island), Brian Kavanagh (St. Anne’s), Seán Banville (Sarsfields), Fiach O Crualaoich (Sarsfields), Jack Brazzill (Glynn-Barntown), David Roche (Glynn-Barntown), Mark Power (Shelmaliers), Patrick Gallagher-O’Toole (St. Martin’s), Philip Lambert (St. Mary’s, Rosslare), Cathal Devereux (Crossabeg-Ballymurn), Sky Moroney (Volunteers), Stephen O’Keeffe (Taghmon-Camross), Thomas Carley (Kilmore), Conor Hillis (Sarsfields), Jack Butler (Buffers Alley).
St. Brendan’s: Robert Osborne; Lorcán McMonagle, Chris O’Donoghue, Seán O’Leary; Niall Donohue, Michael Potts, Jack Griffin (0-1); Billy Courtney (0-4, 3 frees, 1 ‘45), Cian Gammell; Barry Keane, Donnchadh O’Sullivan (0-4), Dara Moynihan (capt., 0-2); David Shaw (0-4), Mark O’Shea (0-1), Ciarán Flynn (0-1). Subs. - Micheál Devlin (0-1) for Flynn (45), Barry Slattery for O’Donoghue, temp. (52-59), Mark Harnett for Keane (54), Evan Cosgrave for Griffin (60+1), Niall McCarthy for O’Shea (60+1), Diarmuid Brosnan for McMonagle (60+3).
Referee: Seán Hurson (Tyrone).