St Flannan’s finish with panache
There was little at stake as both had already qualified for the quarter-finals, but that didn’t prevent the teams from serving up a fiercely-contested tie in heavy underfoot conditions.
Coláiste Iosaef, in only their second year in competition, powered their way to a 0-6 to 0-4 interval advantage, a scoreline that served as a wake-up call to the holders who, thanks to the influential Kieran Neilan and Damien O’Halloran in midfield, went on to claim the second period.
Conor Tierney fired them ahead inside the opening minute, but the losers, with Gavin O’Mahony starring at centre-back, answered back with two points from Shane O’Donnell. O’Mahony and O’Donnell opened up a three-point gap, with Tierney knocking over the last point of the half. Flannan’s tightened up at the back where Kevin Raftery and Martin O’Donnell put the shackles on the Colaiste Iosaef front runners.
Tierney was twice on the mark inside the same number of minutes and with the scores level at 0-6 each, the pressure was back on the Limerick boys, who conceded a hat-trick of points to Seán Talty, from play.
They lifted their challenge briefly for O’Donnell and Garreth O’Mahony to raise their hopes, but Flannan’s finished with panache.
Scorers: St Flannan’s: C. Tierney 0-4, (0-2f), G. Arthurs 0-4, S. Talty 0-3, B. Gaffney, M. O’Donnell 0-1.
Colaiste Iosaef: S. O’Donnell 0-4 f), G. O’Mahony 0-2, O. Burchell, P. O’Brien 0-1 each.
ST FLANNAN’S: P. Kelly; J. Moloney, K. Raftery, K. O’Doherty, M. O’Donnell, G. Hannigan,, D. Ryan; K. Neilan, D. O’Halloran; B. Gaffney, J. Neilan, C. Madden, C. Tierney, G. Arthurs, S.Talty. Sub. N. Killeen for talty.
COLÁISTE IOSAEF: S. Heffernan; P. Cleary, L.Hurley, V. Hurley, D. O’Regan, G. O’Mahony, C. O’Rourke; D. Slattery, O. Burchell; W. Egan, S.O’Donnell, J. McManus, G. Begley, P. O’Brien, T. Byrnes. Sub. J. O’Dea for Quigley.
Referee: P. Coffey (Cappamore).
