Shorten steers De La Salle into knockout stages
After a draw in their opening game against Intermediate School Killorglin, the Cork outfit knew a win here would secure their passage to the last eight. They achieved that objective in style with an outstanding performance.
They racked up 2-6 inside the opening 20 minutes on a day which was a chastening experience for West Clare Colleges. The combination outfit who draw their players from schools in Kilkee, Kilrush, Kildysart and Kilmihil were participating in the blue riband of Munster Colleges football for the first time, yet struggled to cope with the slick combination play and greater experience of their opponents. They battled gamely throughout and were rewarded with a few scores in the second-half. Midfielder Alan Dalton and centre-forward Eoin Donnellan battled throughout in a bid to turn the tide. But De La Salle were clearly the superior force.
The Mid-Cork school had a series of excellent individual displays. They defended strongly with Robbie Dwyer and Shane Creedon to the fore, while midfielder Cathal Vaughan regularly supplied his forwards with intelligent passes into space. In attack, wing-forward Daniel Twomey was full of energy and finished with four points. Inside Ben Shorten was the real danger man as he proved a thorn in West Clare Colleges side from the off.
After four minutes he skipped past the covering defence on the left flank and fired home the game’s opening goal, and that set the tone for De La Salle’s dominance as they peppered the West Clare men’s defence with relentless attacks. Goalkeeper Eamonn O’Dea repelled Shorten’s strike for a second goal in the 6th minute but was helpless in the 12th minute when Sean O’Sullivan crashed to the net after a surging run by Darragh Foley. Shorten, Vaughan, Foley and Darren Kelly all popped over points to leave De La Salle 2-6 to 0-0 ahead by the 20th minute.
West Clare Colleges did rally effectively before the break. Donnellan converted a free for their first score of the game in the 21st minute and he then clipped over a splendid left-foot effort from play a few minutes later. At the interval, De La Salle led 2-7 to 0-2 but West Clare Colleges enjoyed their best spell of play after the break. An enterprising run by Alan Dalton down the right wing culminated in his well-placed cross being fisted to the net by substitute Tadhg Lillis in the 42nd minute and then a minute later Darren O’Dea tapped over a free. But De La Salle firmly reasserted their supremacy before the finish with Shorten grabbing his second goal of the match in the 46th minute after Vaughan provided the assist and Twomey clipped over late points to seal their success.
Scorers for DLS Macroom: B Shorten 2-3; D Twomey 0-4; S O’Sullivan 1-0; C Vaughan, D Kelly, D Foley 0-1 each.
Scorers for West Clare Colleges: T Lillis 1-0; E Donnellan 0-2 (one free); D O’Dea 0-1 (one free).
DLS MACROOM: D Creed; M Cronin, R Dwyer, K Manning; S Creedon, P Grainger, F Buckley; D Foley, C Vaughan; D Twomey, D Kelly, C Casey; P Moynihan, B Shorten, S O’Sullivan.
Subs: L Kelleher for Moynihan (35), D Horgan for Casey (51).
WEST CLARE COLLEGES: E O’Dea; S Coughlan, C Galvin, C O’Mahony; B Moloney, S Garry, C McNeilus; A Dalton, J Scanlon; D Lonergan, E Donnellan, M Hoare; D O’Dea, M O’Hannon, Jim Downes.
Subs: N Capon for Coughlan (27), T Lillis for Hoare (half-time), Joe Downes for Downes (half-time), E O’Connor for McNeilus (47).
Referee: Mike Mann (Limerick)
