St: Mary’s College, Galway 2/0 Coláiste Muire Secondary School, Cobh
Tony Ward (42), Shane Gallagher (74)
Shannon Hibernian FC was the setting for the first of the All Ireland Senior Boys Semi Finals which saw Munster Champions, Coláiste Muire, Cobh face Connacht stars St: Mary’s College of Galway:
The Cobh side overcame the infamous Limerick CBS to lift the Munster Senior crown last month: Both sides were deadlocked after extra time (1/1) and it took sudden death penalties to produce a winner: Cobh held their nerve to capture the title with a 5/4 score/line thus denying Limerick a sixth consecutive Munster Senior title: A historic occasion for the Cork School to savour:
St: Mary’s on the other hand had a convincing 4/2 win over St: Marist College of Athlone in Terryland Park last week: The Galway School are no strangers to All Ireland glory with their names etched on the Senior Cup Trophy in 2006 and 2001: Ironically both mentors involved today played their part in securing those memorable titles: Paul Concannon managed the side to All Ireland success in 2006 while mentor Jason Moran captained the side in 2001:
The afternoon’s proceedings came to life in the 8th minute after a corner courtesy of Galway’s Shane Keogh: His inch perfect delivery found Eoin Walsh unmarked in the box: Walsh’s wicked header glided over the upright much to the frustration of the large Galway gathering:
Cobh responded two minutes later with a quick free kick thirty yards out: Alan O’Flynn supplied Cian Spriggs whose high ball into the box was met by the head of Gavin Fitzgerald: The ball looked to be heading in but a timely fingertip interception from keeper Ronan Burke denied the Cork side a goal:
St: Mary’s were gifted an opportunity just before the half hour mark when James Casserly dived dramatically to reach Tony Ward’s pacy ball in from the left wing: Casserly was centimetres away from guiding the ball into the back of the net:
Concannon’s charges were gaining confidence with the midfield pairing setting well: Good quality ball was issued by Captain Barry McEntee, Christian Lomboto and Fiach O’Bearra who in turn fed Tony Ward and Shane Keogh:
Their hard work was rewarded three minutes from half time as Lomboto’s stinging shot was saved well by Alan Burns in goal but there wasn’t anything the keeper could do about the rebounding shot which went straight to Tony Ward to tap in from six yards:
Galway’s Evan Browne was denied two minutes later after a marvellous double save from the versatile Burn: 1/0 at the interval to St: Mary’s:
The second half started the brighter for Galway as youngster Tony Ward hit the woodwork after his inadvertent cross nicked the upright with 50 minutes on the clock:
Cobh were playing some nice one touch football but no real fire power up front was causing manager Kieran Walsh some concern:
Coláiste Muire were dealt a harsh blow after the hour mark when Dave Devlin was dismissed for violent conduct:
The Cork side had an uphill battle on their hands if they wanted to progress in this competition:
Galway’s Shane Maughan’s sliced effort went sailing over the crossbar with 66 minutes played after good work from Shane Gallagher and Shane Keogh in the centre of the park:
Again St: Mary’s advanced, this time goal scorer Tony Ward setting up Fiach O’Bearra but he couldn’t convert from six yards out:
With fifteen minutes remaining St: Mary’s scored their second of the afternoon:
Shane Keogh made a darting run down the right wing: He cut back the ball to the on running Shane Gallagher: Some fancy footwork from Gallagher saw him side step two defenders to whip the ball past Alan Burns from 16 yards out: A glorious top corner finish which left the keeper with no chance
Cobh introduced Tony O’Donovan and Cian van Wijnen to advance the attack: The pair made a valuable contribution to their side’s performance with Captain Shane Geasley and Peter Nolan coming close on occasion:
St: Mary’s were denied a third when Tony Ward was deemed off side on 77 minutes:
The impressive Alan O’Flynn went close to getting one back for Cobh but his effort was cleared off the line by Aonguus O’Curraoin:
A defensive error from Derry O’Hanlon at the other end, nearly allowed Tony Ward in for his second, Ward had three attempts to score which saw Alan Burns pull off a double save while O’Hanlon redeemed himself by blocking the third attempt in the six yard box:
The Cork side could have nicked a goal back in injury time as Pierce Donnackie came agonisingly close after he pounced on an Alan O’Flynn delivery: The youngster’s attempt went wide of the right post: Lady luck was definitely not on their side this time around:
This was the last of the action with seven minutes of injury time played: St: Mary’s now advance to the All Ireland Final:
Their opposition is unknown as Salesian College, Celbridge face Carndonagh Community School in the other Semi Final pairing which will be played later in the week:
St: Mary’s College, Galway: Ronan Burke, Shane Gallagher, Aonguus O’Curraoin, Eoin Walsh, James Casserly, Christian Lomboto, Fiach O’Bearra, Barry McEntee (Capt), Shane Maughan, Tony Ward, Shane Keogh
Subs: Evan Browne, James Muran, Craig Glynn, Rory McMahon, Dean Bruen
Teacher: Paul Concannon & Jason Moran
Coláiste Muire Secondary School, Cobh: Alan Burns, Dave Devlin, Derry O’Hanlon, Gavin Fitzgerald, Colm O’Sullivan, Pierce Donnachie, Alan O’Flynn, Cian Spriggs, Eoin O’Riordan, Shane Geasley (Capt), Subs: Peter Nolan, Cian van Wijnen, Jamie Moynihan, Shay O’Sullivan, Tony O’Donovan, Shane Hallahan:
Teacher: Kieran Walsh
Referee: John McNamara