Baptist dominate first-half to earn Limerick school fourth All-Ireland title this season

A dominant first half laid the foundation as John the Baptist Community School secured the Paddy Buggy Cup at Thurles on Saturday.

All-Ireland Post Primary SBHC final

St John the Baptist CS (Hospital, Limerick) 2-14 St Mary’s CBGS (Belfast) 1-8

Incredibly, the win was the fourth All-Ireland Championship success recorded by the school this season, coming on the back of two camogie crowns and a Ladies Senior A title on Friday.

Goals by Eoin Sheehan and Ryan Tobin, the latter the last action of that opening period, put daylight between the Hospital-based school and their Belfast counterparts and that cushion proved enough to ensure victory.

Sheehan’s green flag followed a well-worked move through the defence and a nice pass by Seán Teefy, while Tobin’s saw him cut in from the right and fire an unstoppable shot to the net.

Dylan O’Shea was reliable with the placed balls and there were excellent performances around the Semple Stadium pitch from the likes of centre-back Paul O’Heney, captain Paudie Maher, and several forwards, such as Sheehan and Tobin, which made things difficult for St Mary’s.

The Ulster side stuck gamely at trying to make a contest of it, all the same, and Darren Grego fired over a couple of nice points in the first half.

However, a spell of wides in the opening quarter proved costly, as it came just before John the Baptist’s most effective spell.

Tiarnan Murphy sent a close-range free straight to the net early in the second half to give the St Mary’s supporters something to cheer about and the same man added three points, while Shea Shannon also weighed in with a second-half score to keep things competitive.

The closest they got to their opponents during that time, however, was seven points and one suspected that the Limerick school had taken the foot off the pedal.

Murphy had some more efforts on goal, but both were saved on the line, while at the other end, Ryan Tobin finished up with two late scores to extend the John the Baptist lead to nine points again, before the final whistle sparked huge celebrations among their supporters.

Scorers for St John the Baptist:

E Sheehan 1-2, R Tobin 1-2, D O’Shea 0-5 (4F), M O’Grady 0-2, E O’Mahony 0-1, P Maher 0-1, S Teefy 0-1.

Scorers for St Mary’s:

T Murphy 1-3 (1-2 F), D Grego 0-2, S Shannon 0-2, G Smyth 0-1.

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST:

B Heavey, M Quinlan, C Phipps, K O’Donnell, B O’Grady, P O’Heney, K Boner, M O’Grady, D O’Shea, S Teefy, P Maher (capt.), E O’Mahony, T Leddin, E Sheehan, R Tobin.

Subs:

B McNamara for T Leddin (45m), J. O’Donnell for E. Sheehan (55m).

ST MARY’S CBGS:

P Kennedy, M Napier, N McCann, S Wilson, D McEnhill, N Gibson, A O’Brien, CJ McKenna (capt.), S Shannon, G Smyth, C McLarnon, D Grego, T Murphy, O O’Callaghan, P Doyle.

Subs:

C Crossan for O. O’Callaghan (40m), O. McKenna for P. Doyle (61m), M. Smyth for S. Wilson (62m).

Ref:

G Quilty (Kilkenny)