Mercy Mounthawk land first Corn Uí Mhuirí title with victory over Tralee rivals
TO THE VICTORS: Buddy' O'Grady (left) the much-loved caretaker at Mercy Mounthawk Secondary for over 17 years holds up the Cup with Odhran Ferrios, captain of Mercy Mounthawk, who were victorious in the Munster Colleges Football Corn Ui Mhuiri final played at Austin Stack GAA Grounds Tralee. Pic: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus LTD
More Munster schools magic. More history.
A week after Nenagh CBS won a first Harty Cup, a new name was similarly inscribed on the Corn Uí Mhuirí. Mercy Mounthawk, in their first final appearance, celebrated a first final win.
With no team having got closer than six points to them on the road to Austin Stack Park, an inordinate amount of pressure and expectation fell on the young shoulders of the Mounthawk students to live up to all that had been said and written about them.
And for spells of this Tralee derby decider, that pressure and expectation told, and told visibly. But when backed into a corner in the closing stages of this final, they showed the true mark of champions.
Backed by the elements, Tralee had succeeded in halving a six-point deficit to trail 0-12 to 0-9 on 50 minutes. Three minutes further on, Oisin McGibney’s foot block on a Darragh Cunnane point attempt saw referee Conor Lane award a Tralee CBS penalty.
Ronan Carroll stepped forward and coolly slotted the ball into the right corner. Draw game. Game on.
The urgency that had for so long been absent from Mounthawk’s efforts was there in spades in their response to the levelling score.
Tomás Kennedy, Paddy Lane, and Ben Murphy kicked three points in-a-row to get them over the line and into the history books.
Mercy Mounthawk had led 0-9 to 0-4 at half-time. They were in front from the third minute, had limited their opponents to just two points from play, and yet there’s every chance they were the more disgruntled dressing-room at the break.
Mounthawk had the wind blowing out their sails in the opening half. They applied a suffocating press on Tralee goalkeeper Oisín O’Halloran’s restarts. Their three inside operators and three half-forwards held their respective position, with five black shirts then lining the 65-metre line. They won the first five Tralee restarts.
They even went a man up late in the first-half following a black card to Andrew Kerins on 27 minutes.
Against this backdrop, their five-point lead was nothing hectic. And they’ll have known such. They wouldn't have needed Aidan O’Shea to tell them so during the break.
They engineered three green flag openings and took none. Goalkeeper O’Halloran saved twice from Odhran Ferris and Lane, while the latter had a palmed goal correctly ruled out for square ball.
Ferris had them on the board in the third minute. Of their remaining eight first-half points, Lane accounted for six. His breakdown was three from play, two frees, and a mark. Busy in the assists department was Daniel Kirby and half-back Pádraig O’Halloran.
At the other end, their defence was patient in shutting down Tralee’s attempted incisions. In one passage of play, midfielders Liam Óg O’Connor and Pat Brosnan had their point efforts charged down before Andrew Kerins had his pass intercepted.
Ronan Carroll kicked a superb point into the elements on the half hour to leave the scoreboard reading 0-8 to 0-4. The five-point deficit facing the Tralee CBS students upon the change of ends would not have daunted them, especially when Mounthawk had so many teams buried by this juncture.
Tralee CBS came with a ferocious second half effort. Jerh Brosnan won frees. Daragh Cunnane, Luke Rochford, and Hugh Lenihan rose white flags.
So telling, though, was that when they restored parity, they were never afforded a single opportunity to hit the front and their last-ditch play to fashion an equaliser was snuffed out by Mounthawk students on a mission.
Mission accomplished. History made.
P Lane (0-9, 0-2 frees, 0-1 mark, 0-1 ‘45); T Kennedy (0-2); N Collins, O Ferris, N Townsend, B Murphy (0-1 each).
R Carroll (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free); D Cunnane (0-2 frees), H Lenihan (0-1 free), L Rochford (0-2 each); M McKivergan (0-1).
M Tansley (Austin Stacks); G O’Riordan (Ardfert), O McGibney (Churchill), J Fisher (Austin Stacks); P O’Halloran (Austin Stacks), J Murphy (Austin Stacks), B Murphy (Austin Stacks); D Kirby (Austin Stacks), C O’Gara (Churchill); S Corkery (John Mitchels), O Ferris (Ardfert), N Collins (Ballymacelligott); P Lane (Austin Stacks), T Kennedy (Kerins O'Rahilly’s), N Townsend (Austin Stacks).
K Sheehan (Na Gaeil) for Corkery (47); J Hoare (Kerins O’Rahilly’s) for Townsend (49); O Murphy (Churchill) for O’Halloran (57); B Sharp (St Pat’s Blennerville) for McGibney (62); B Byrne (Austin Stacks) for O’Gara (65).
O O’Halloran (Ardfert); S Turner (Ballymacelligott), E O’Flaherty (Ardfert), E (Ballymacelligott); A Kerins (John Mitchels), F Ryan (Austin Stacks), S Barrett (Na Gaeil); L Óg O’Connor (Ardfert), P Brosnan (Moyvane); M McKivergan (Ballymacelligott), L Rochford (Ballyduff), H Lenihan (Churchill); J Brosnan (Moyvane), D Cunnane (John Mitchels), R Carroll (Austin Stacks).
R O’Driscoll (Austin Stacks) for Barrett (35); T Deregee (Austin Stacks) for McKivergan (61).
C Lane (Cork).
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