St Farnan’s too strong for brave Coláiste Eoin
ST FARNAN’S (KE) 1-12 COLÁISTE EOIN 0-7
A very strong St Farnan’s Prosperous side arrived in Hacketstown last Friday afternoon brimming with confidence and the Kildare students proved too strong for a game Coláiste Eoin side made up of players from Clonmore, Knockananna, Ballymanus and Kiltegan in the South Leinster Senior ‘D’ football championship semi-final.
The visitors had quality players in all lines on the field and a midfield duo of major potential, with Eoin Bagenal firing over seven points and his midfield partner, the physically impressive Dan Lynam, chipping in with 1-1; the goal proving to be the beginning of the end for the border students who had clawed back a five-point deficit immediately after the restart.
It was Darragh Kelly’s side who started much the better and had a point on the board through the impressive Sean Moran and should have had a goal after 10 minutes only for an unfortunate bobble that thwarted Knockananna’s Cathal Sheehan who found himself with an empty goal to fire into.
A major at this stage might have caused the St Farnan’s men to doubt themselves but they did the exact opposite for the remainder of the first half with Eoin Bagenal dominating the scoreboard with five points on the trot (one free) before full-forward Jamie O’Brien brought the first half to a close with the visitors leading by 0-6 to 0-1.
Coláiste Eoin had been forced to work extremely hard to hold the Prosperous side to those six points with Brandon Ryan pulling off a fine penalty save after 20 minutes while a well populated defence fought valiantly to contain a rampant team packed with strong runners and very capable footballers who created holes and drew fouls very impressively.
The first five minutes of the second half were Coláiste Eoin’s best of the game. They were out in front of their men, they took them on, their passes stuck, and they drew to within a point thanks to fine scores from Sean Moran and Ciarán Harmon.
Alas, St Farnan’s broke up the field after Harmon‘s score and the beefy Dan Lynam got a boot to a ball that skidded in low past Brandon Ryan for a sucker-punch of a goal at the worst time imaginable.
The Prosperous students really upped their game over the next 10 minutes, and it was 1-11 to 0-5 before Coláiste Eoin could catch their breaths as Bagenal maintained his impressive scoring from play and placed balls.
Coláiste Eoin dispatched midfielder Luke Connolly to the edge of the square and they promptly began lobbing big high balls down on top of him, but Jack Musgrave, Adam Ewing and Jack Cross proved more than capable.
Connolly did manage to break to Sean Moran who pointed and Cathal Sheehan had a goalbound shot blocked by the visiting defence but a fine Dan Lynam point stopped the momentum being worked up by the home side.
Connolly managed to gather possession close to the end and swing over a beauty but Coláiste Eoin had neither the time, the size or the attacking prowess to stage what would have been a massive recovery.
Scorers - St Farnan’s: Eoin Bagenal 0-7 (2f, 1 45), Jamie O’Brien 0-3, Dan Lynam 1-1, Aaron Lenihan 0-1.
Coláiste Eoin: Sean Moran 0-5 (2f), Ciarán Harmon 0-1, Luke Connolly 0-1. COLÁISTE EOIN HACKETSTOWN:
Brandon Ryan; James Whelan, Anthony McDonald, Darragh McKernan; Ciarán Mooney, Cormac Connolly, Adam Smith; Luke Connolly, Rory McGuire; Sean Harmon, Rory Connolly, Cathal Sheehan; Ciarán Harmon, Billy Lawlor, Sean Moran. Subs: Kevin Kennedy, Sean Murphy, Aaron Corless, Adam Byrne, David Veira, Conor Byrne, Caolin Geotelen, Ewan McCrae. ST FARNAN’S PROSPEROUS: Drew Carey; Jack Musgrave, Adam Ewing, Jack Cross; Rory Moran, Colm Moran, Keith Purcell; Dan Lynham, Eoin Bagenal; Conor Murphy, Kevin Cambell, Paul Dockery; Sean Dunne, Jamie O’Brien, Aaron Lenihan. REFEREE: Pat Kehoe (Rathvilly)