Late St Brendan’s surge too much for battling Tralee CBS
The Killarney side led 1-3 to 0-5 at half-time but trailed by two points with eight minutes remaining as ‘The Green’ punished them in a sloppy third quarter.
The opening goal came in the 25th minute after two efforts from corner-forward Donnachadh O’Sullivan were blocked by Tommy Lynch before full-forward David Clifford eventually found the net.
Tralee were much sharper on the restart and were rewarded in the 33rd minute when Tomas O’Connor punished some poor defending to put his side ahead.
St Brendan’s struggled for scores and were reliant on Clifford and Billy Courtney to keep them in touch. But their efforts looked in vain when Micheal Reidy’s 52nd minute point put Tralee 1-9 to 1-7 ahead.
But then came that devastating finish by ‘The Sem’ as six successive points from Courtney (3) David Shaw, Cian Gammell and captain Dara Moynihan secured victory.
The win sets up an All-Ireland semi-final with St Mary’s, Derry on Saturday afternoon.
Scorers for St Brendan’s College: D Clifford (1-3, 2f), B Courtney (0-6, 6f), C O’Donoghue, D Shaw, C Gammell and D Moynihan (0-1 each)
Scorers for Tralee CBS: T O’Connor (1-1), S Donnellan, M Kelliher and M Reidy (0-2 each), T Hoare (0-1, 1f) and S Okunbar (0-1)
ST BRENDAN’S: A Rennie, M Potts, N O’Donoghue, O O’Donoghue, M O’Shea, C O’Donoghue, J Griffin, B Courtney, D Shaw, C Gammell, D Moynihan, D Spillane, M Harnett, D Clifford, D O’Sullivan Sub: S O’Leary for Potts (27)
TRALEE CBS: S Foley, B Patterson, S Mortimer, K Dwyer, D Long, N O’Mahony, T Lynch, S Okunbar, T Hoare, M Reidy, M Kelliher, T O’Connor, S Donnellan, G Fitzgerald, A Roche
Subs: T Lenihan for Roche (18) and K Williams for Donnellan (52)
Referee: J Griffin (Glenbeigh/Glencar)
