Croke Cup: St Kieran's get back to winning ways against Loughrea

BACK TO WINNING WAYS: St Kieran's produced a devastating performance to demolish Connacht finalists St Raphael’s of Loughrea on Saturday afternoon

Masita All-Ireland Post-Primary Schools Croke Cup quarter-final

St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny 2-28 St Raphael’s College, Loughrea 0-13 

The 23-time Croke Cup champions might have been pipped at the post in Leinster, but St Kieran’s College fired out a warning shot to every school still dreaming of capturing the big prize when they produced a devastating performance to demolish Connacht finalists St Raphael’s of Loughrea on Saturday afternoon.

Harty Cup champions Cashel Community School are next up for the famous Kilkenny institution, and on this form, the first-time winners in Munster will have it all to do in a fortnight’s time, as all across the field, Brian Dowling’s side were in splendid form.

They wasted no time in hitting the ground running here, even as they hurled into a strong breeze at McDonagh Park in Nenagh. With ten minutes gone they were 0-5 to 0-2 in front, with Ed McDermott hugely impressive up front, while further down the field, Killian Doyle, Aaron McEvoy and Jeff Neary were controlling the middle third.

St Raphael’s hit some nice scores from distance, the pick of the bunch being Shane Concannon’s cleanly-struck effort from midfield, but they were struggling to get any traction close to goal, where the injury-enforced absence of Vince Morgan was telling a tale.

A penalty goal from Harry Shine was a hammer blow to St Raphael’s, but Aaron McEvoy was also racking up scores from frees and from play, pushing the lead out to 1-14 to 0-8 at the break.

Bobby Feeney and Paddy Mac Carthaigh were on target with some excellent points for St Raphael’s after half-time as they tried to work their way back into the contest, picking off three of the first five points of the second half, but they couldn’t sustain it as St Kieran’s quickly took control again. 

Between the 40th and 55th minute the Kilkenny side outscored their opponents by 1-8 to 0-1, and it was notable that even as they emptied their bench, taking off some of their star performers, players like Rory Glynn, Matthew Kelleher and Anthony Ireland Wall picked up where their predecessors left off, picking off points and keeping standards very high right up until the final whistle.

Donagh Murphy’s whipped ground pull from 25 metres resulted in their second goal, while McEvoy brought his tally to an even dozen points when he cut through and blasted a goal chance narrowly over the bar in the closing minutes, further evidence that pulling the reins was not on their agenda on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Galway have had a four point victory over Cork in the U20 football John Kerins Cup. Final score Galway 1-11, Cork 0-7.

Dublin beat Kerry in the same competition by three points, 2-14 to 2-11.

Scorers for St Kieran’s: A McEvoy 0-12 (0-7f), D Murphy 1-2, H Shine 1-1 (1-0 pen), E McDermott 0-4, N Shortall 0-2, E Dunne 0-2, K Doyle 0-1, T McPhillips 0-1, R Glynn 0-1, A Ireland Wall 0-1, M Kelleher 0-1.

Scorers for St Raphael’s: L Connaire 0-4 (0-3f), B Feeney 0-2, P Mac Carthaigh 0-2, E Mulleady 0-2, S Concannon 0-1, S Murray 0-1f, D Mac Carthaigh 0-1.

St Kieran's (Kilkenny clubs unless stated): S Manogue (James Stephens); B Murphy (The Harps, Laois), B Hughes (Bennettsbridge), T Kelly (Bennettsbridge); T McPhillips (Dicksboro), K Corcoran (Ballyhale Shamrocks), P Naddy (Young Irelands); J Neary (Graigue Ballycallan), A McEvoy (Graigue Ballycallan); E McDermott (James Stephens), H Shine (Dicksboro), K Doyle (Emeralds); N Shortall (Ballyhale Shamrocks), T Dunne (Graiguenamanagh), D Murphy (Mount Leinster Rangers, Carlow).

Subs: A Ireland Wall (Danesfort) for Shortall (45), R Glynn (Clara) for McDermott (45), C Hickey (St. Lachtain’s) for McPhillips (51), S Hunt (St Martin’s) for Doyle (51), M Kelleher (Dicksboro) for Shine (53).

St Raphael’s (Galway clubs unless stated): S Murray (Kilconieron); G Maher (Loughrea), C Headd (St Thomas’), D Campbell (Cappataggle); L McInerney (Loughrea), S Concannon (Craughwell), D Keane (Kilconieron); S Keane (Sarsfields), N Dillon (Kilconieron); M Burns (Loughrea), P Mac Carthaigh (Sarsfields), E Mulleady (Kilconieron); D Mac Carthaigh (Sarsfields), L Connaire (Sarsfields), B Feeney (Loughrea).

Subs: N Keane (Sarsfields) for Burns (57), N Botes (Loughrea) for D Mac Carthaigh (58), C Cooney (Sarsfields) for D Keane (58), J Dervan (Tommy Larkins) for Dillon (60), B Fleming (Loughrea) for Feeney (60).

Referee: E Stapleton (Limerick).