Final hearbreak for St Colmcille’s

Final hearbreak for St Colmcille’s

15 February 2017

THERE was no fairytale ending for St Colmcille’s when they lost out to St Catherine’s, Armagh, in an enthralling Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ final in Lurgan.

The Crossgar school were unable to replicate their semi-final heroics when they came from 17 points down against Fermanagh’s Drumragh Integrated to force a replay, as St Catherine’s proved a tougher nut to crack.

St Colmcille’s couldn’t have asked for a better start to Wednesday’s final as the exceptionally talented Oisin Savage, who was feeling under the weather, scored 1-2 inside the first 10 minutes with St Catherine’s floundering in his wake.

The Armagh lads soon settled and with the physically imposing Che Donnelly and Diarmuid Tennyson dominating in the middle of the field, a Sean Fields goal and points from Tennyson and Darragh Greene had the sides level by the 15th minute.

St Catherine’s were on a roll and a second goal from the predatory Fields had the Armagh school in the driving seat. Crossgar’s Callum Magee and Armagh’s Oisin Greene swapped points as did Oisin Mulholland and Owen Fitzsimons, to leave St Catherine’s with a 2-4 to 1-4 lead with 20 minutes gone.

St Catherine’s extended their lead to eight points with an Odhran Lavery goal and points from Greene and Fields.   

St Colmcille’s somehow managed to lift themselves and late points from the fleet-footed Sean Kerr and the gifted Savage sent the Crossgar lads in at the break trailing 3-6 to 1-6.

The Crossgar school had the wind in their backs in the second half and an early Kerr goal brought them to within three points of St Catherine’s, but they responded with a similar strike from Fields to restore their six point advantage after 34 minutes.

Savage, who was now being doubly marked, lofted over a majestic score for St Colmcille’s, followed by a point from Kerr, but a catalogue of wides allowed St Catherine’s to hang on to their comfortable lead.

As the wides total mounted for St Colmcille’s, St Catherine’s broke from defence and a Tennyson goal and a point from Greene edged the Armagh school into a 5-8 to 2-7 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

St Colmcille’s refused to give in and a point from Oisin Mulholland gave them a fighting chance, but they were now committing too many players forward and paid the price as Odhran Lavery netted after yet another counterattack.

The lead was now 12 points, but St Colmcille’s don’t know the meaning of the word surrender and points from Savage and Mulholland kept them ticking over.

Alas, despite intense pressure, goals just wouldn’t come for St Colmcille’s in the dying stages and St Catherine’s picked them off on the break with a Tennyson goal and points from Darragh McGeough and Fields giving the final scoreline a rather unfair look.

St Colmcille’s: Jack Coulter, Shea Curran, John Flanagan, Daniel McCrissican, Aaron Noade, Myles O’Hare, John Spratt, Oisin Savage (1-5), Shea McGrattan, Finlay Chapman, David Graham, Sean Kerr (1-1), Callum Magee (0-1), Eoin O’Toole, Emmett O’Donnell. Subs: O Mulholland (0-3), Callum Murdock, Patrick Madine, Reece McCormick, Tiarnan Rogan, Eoin O’Neill.

St Catherine’s: Ben McGreevy, Tony Leonard, Rory Og Gaynor, Ruairi Trainor, Odhran Reid, Harry Comiskey, Pearse Dunbar, Diarmuid Tennyson (2-1), Che Donnelly, Shea McCann, Odhran Lavery (2-0), Sean Fields (3-3), Oisin Greene (0-2), Owen Fitzsimons (0-1), Darren Greene (0-2). Subs: Darragh McGeough (0-1).