Ardscoil na Trionoide Athy1-13 Colaiste Mhuire Mullingar 3-10 (AET)
Leinster Colleges SFC Final
Ardscoil na Trionoide Athy endured extra-time heartbreak as they eventually fell to a three point defeat at the hands of Colaiste Mhuire Mullingar in a cracking encounter in the Leinster Colleges SFC final at Glenisk O’Connor Park, Tullamore.
It was the Athy outfit, with a strong Laois representation, who opened the scoring after a cagey opening few minutes, when St Joseph’s Robbie Murphy split the posts with a long range effort followed by a converted free from Ronan Kelly two minutes later to put Ardscoil ahead by two.
Will Scahill opened Mullingar’s account with a converted free, before another Darragh Farrell, another St Joseph’s representative, finished a lovely team move with a point to reinstall Athy’s two point lead.
But the Westmeath outfit hit back when centre-back Michael Weir darted up the field and laid it off to Scahill, who beat Oisin Groarke at his near post to put Mullingar in the lead.
That sprung the game to life, when Scahill got on the end on a pass from Matthew Thornton and broke free inside, calmly rolling the ball into the net shortly afterwards.
Athy hit back less than fifty seconds later though, when a neat passing move from the resulting kick-out was finished to the net by Colm Moran to reduce the gap to one.
Another pointed free from Kelly made it a level game once again, before three unanswered points courtesy of James Donnelly, Kelly from another free and Colm Moran put Athy three in front approaching the break.
A converted free from Scahill right on the stroke of half-time left two between them going down the tunnel, Athy leading 1-7 to 2-2.
It was Athy who made the brighter start to the second-half, with points from Murphy and Farrell from a mark extending their lead to four.
But Mullingar hit back, with Groarke having to be at full stretch to brilliantly deny Thornton a fisted goal effort.
Scahill sent another two frees between the posts, before two quick-fire points from Thornton and Scahill again from a placed ball made it a level contest midway through the second-half.
That’s ultimately how it stayed until there were two minutes remaining on the clock, when Kelly popped up with his fourth pointed free to put Athy ahead by one.
But they were dealt a serious blow shortly afterwards, when Farrell was shown a straight red card by referee Eamon O’Connor for what he deemed to be a high challenge.
With time ticking away, Mullingar made use of their numerical advantage by working the ball to corner-back Ben Sheerin, who popped up with a score from a tight angle to send it to extra-time.
Mullingar took the lead midway through the first period of extra-time thanks to Scahill sending over his first point from play, before Kelly levelled matters two minutes later with a pointed free.
But it was Mullingar who took the lead less than a minute later, when Sean Byrne put his name on the scoresheet with a point, and the Westmeath side landed a sucker punch right on the cusp of half-time in extra-time when a high ball inside was punched to the net by substitute Paul Keating, giving Mullingar a four point lead at the interval.
Athy kept on fighting, as Mullingar lost their extra man when Michael Moloney was shown a black card for a cynical foul.
Points from Sam Lynch and Kelly from a free reduced the deficit to two, but they were unable to find the late goal they so desperately needed, as Byrne fisted over his second point of the day to see it out for Mullingar with a three point victory.
SCORERS – Ardscoil na Trionoide Athy: Ronan Kelly 0-6 (frees), Colm Moran 1-1, Robbie Murphy 0-2, Darragh Farrell 0-2 (0-1 mark), James Donnelly 0-1, Sam Lynch 0-1 Colaiste Mhuire Mullingar: Will Scahill 2-6 (0-5 frees), Paul Keating 1-0, Sean Byrne 0-2, Matthew Thornton 0-1, Ben Sheerin 0-1
ARDSCOIL NA TRIONOIDE ATHY: Oising Groarke (Castlemitchell); Daniel Henry (Athy), Mark Grufferty (St Laurences), Liam Byrne (Athy); Cameron Pedreschi (Athy), James Donnelly (St Laurences), Calum Keaveney (Athy); Eoin Johnson (St Josephs), Robbie Murphy (St Josephs); Ronan Kelly (Athy), Colm Moran (Athy), Sam Lynch (St Josephs); Harry Grainger (Athy), Darragh Farrell (St Josephs), Paidi Kelly (Castlemitchell) Subs: Eoin Coffey (Castlemitchell) for Grufferty, Sean Rowan (St Josephs) for Grainger, Niall Hickey (Ballylinan) for Lynch, Roan Brennan (St Josephs) for Keaveney, Sam Lynch for Murphy
COLAISTE MHUIRE MULLINGAR: Adam Buckey; Ben Sheerin, Ty Masterson, Conor Daly; Darragh Smith, Michael Weir, Michael Moloney; Eoin Conlon, Donnacha Maguire; Conor Heffernan, Matthew Thornton, Oisin O’Hara; Will Scahill, Eoin Meehan, Sean Byrne Subs: Ben McNamee for Meehan, Paul Keating for Heffernan, Adam Glynn for Smith, James Murtagh for Sheerin
Referee: Eamon O’Connor (Offaly)
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