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Late Scoring Spree Lands Title For St Kieran’s

Thursday, 22 December 2011

The St Brendan's team that was defeated by St Kieran's in the Leinster Colleges Senior 'A' Hurling league final on Friday last. MT51492

St Kieran's College, Kilkenny 1-11.
St Brendan's, Birr 1-6.

An unanswered six point scoring salvo in the final 10 minutes steered St Kieran's to yet another Leinster trophy yesterday when they came from behind to deny a gallant and unlucky St Brendan's, Birr.
St Kieran's had the better of the first half and powered on by a fortunate goal from Ciaran Prendergast in the fifth minute, they held a 1-5 to 0-5 lead at the break. St Brendan's threw caution to the wind after the restart but missed frees and a lack of composure from the Offaly side meant that their goal from Paddy Mullins in the 45th minute was their last score of the game.
St Brendan's were playing catch up for most of the game but when Mullins goaled with 15 minutes to go, they led for the first time in the game by a point. That goal seemed to give the Kilkenny school the wake up call they needed and went on to fire six points in the final 10 minutes with Chris Bolger and Jack McGrath to the fore.
There was plenty of bite in the game with both sets of players fired up from the get go. Weather conditions were terrible but they had near perfect underfoot conditions as the game was switched to the Astro Turf pitch at Heywood CS at the last minute due to a frozen pitch in Portlaoise and Ratheniska.
Despite the defeat, the Birr school can take great heart and hope from their league campaign as they lie in wait for their championship campaign in the new year. Despite making a blunder for the goal, St Brendan's keeper Keith Bergin had a fine game between the posts. That mistake aside he was solid and cool under pressure.
Captain Billy Connors and Conor Walsh were the pick of the backline while the lively and energetic Paddy Mullins covered serious ground at midfield. Emmet Nolan had an off day with the frees but did manage to point three while Sean T O'Connor also had mixed fortunes from dead balls.
Conor Doughan and Kevin Dunne tried hard to make an impact but the St Kieran's rearguard were of high quality and St Brendan's key forwards found the going tough.
St Brendan's had their backs to the wall from early on. After Jack McGrath and Emmet Nolan (free) traded early scores, disaster struck for the Offaly men in the fourth minute. St Kieran's full forward Ciaran Prendergast done well to get his shot away but it was short and as Keith Bergin went to catch the greasy sliother, he took his eye of the ball and watched it creep over the line to give St Kieran's a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.
The Birr school responded well however and three scores before the 14th minute from Chris Guilfoyle and a brace of frees from Emmet Nolan and Sean T O'Connor left them in arrears of only a solitary point.
The Kilkenny kingpins held on to their cushion however and a pair of quick fire frees from Michael Donnelly had them back in the ascendency by three points with 21 minutes on the clock.
As the rain pelted down, the scores dried up before the break but St Brendan's did manage to tag on another score through Emmet Nolan. With three minutes of injury time elapsed, Michael Donnelly drove over a '65' for St Kieran's and they led 1-5 to 0-5 at the sound of the half time whistle.
St Brendan's came out with huge tempo at the start of the second half and Sean T O'Connor registered a super free from a tight angle in the 35th minute. He missed another soon after which was well within range but his side did take a snatch and grab lead in the 45th minute when Emmet Nolan's high lobbing ball into the danger area fell to Paddy Mullins who let fly with a rasper and into the corner of the net.
With the Offaly school now leading 1-6 to 1-5, they failed to score for the remainder of the game as St Kieran's lifted it a gear and really took off. Chris Bolger and Jack McGrath both fired a brace of points to add to Michael Donnelly's free and the last score of the game form Enda Morrissey to give them a somewhat flattering six point cushion in the end

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