St Gerald's survive late Colaiste Baile Chláir surge to claim Connacht PPS Senior A final
SEVENTH TITLE:The Mayo school were crowned champions for a seventh time after going ahead midway through the first half and holding the lead all the way to the end. Pic: St Gerald's College
On a day when the strong and swirling wind made life difficult for both teams, St Gerald’s did just enough to hold off a late rally from Colaiste Baile Chláir in an absorbing Connacht PPS Senior ‘A’ FC Final at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan.
The Mayo school were crowned champions for a seventh time after going ahead midway through the first half and holding the lead all the way to the end.
Colaiste Baile Chláir, who also lost last year’s decider, came from four points behind at half-time to close the gap to the bare minimum after Ryan Flaherty goaled in the 47th minute.
But despite the best efforts of the Galway lads, St Gerald’s kicked on again with points from the outstanding duo of Gavin Forry (free) and Dara Neary (2) extending their advantage.
The last few minutes were frantic as Colaiste Baile Chláir chased an equalising goal, but they could only manage points from Eanna Monaghan and Eoin Geraghty before the final whistle sounded.
St Gerald’s were well-organised — as befitting a side whose coaching team included current Mayo star Diarmuid O’Connor and former county attacker Mickey Conroy.
But it was Colaiste Baile Chláir — who were managed by former Mayo forward Maurice Sheridan and Corofin’s Kieran Murphy — who led by 0-3 to 0-2 after 11 minutes after early scores from Stephen Curley (free), Daniel Fitzmaurice and Cillian Trayers.
Two minutes later came the game’s watershed moment when a long-range effort from St Gerald’s Ryan Gibbons was held up by the swirling breeze, and Cian Walsh nipped in to palm the ball to the Colaiste Baile Chláir net past the onrushing Cillian Walsh.
A brilliant point from man of the match Dara Neary then pushed St Gerald’s ahead by 1-3 to 0-3 after 16 minutes to change the whole complexion of the game.
Daniel Fitzmaurice and Neary then traded points to maintain the status quo, but St Gerald’s upped the ante before the interval and a couple of frees from Ryan Gibbons meant that the Mayo school led by 1-6 to 0-5 at the break.
The third quarter was an arm-wrestle as the match became bogged down in the middle-third.
The only scores were frees at either end from Eanna Monaghan and Gavin Forry as St Gerald’s continued to keep their opponents at arm’s length.
But that changed on 47 minutes when Stephen Curley’s free came back off the crossbar, and Ryan Flaherty reacted quickest to fire the ball past St Gerald’s goalkeeper Seán Rabbette.
It was all to play for at that stage, but St Gerald’s were not to be denied on and drove on again.
: D Neary (0-4); C Walsh (1-0), G Forry (0-3, 3fs), R Gibbons (0-3, 3fs)
R Flaherty (1-0); E Monaghan (0-3, 2fs), D Fitzmaurice (0-2), S Curley (0-1, 1f), C Trayers (0-1), E Geraghty (0-1)
: S Rabbette; Y Coghill, M Ó Clochartaigh, C Durcan; J Prendergast, F O’Reilly, S O’Reilly; S Cunningham, P Flannelly; J Forry, C Keaveney, D Neary; C Walsh, G Forry, R Gibbons.
: Z Collins for Prendergast; E Walsh for Gibbons.
C Walsh; S O’Flynn, E Geraghty, N Feeney; O Kelly, D Hughes, J Lynn; C Trayers, R Flaherty; E Monaghan, J Lonergan, S Duggan; S Ó hÉochagáin, S Curley, D Fitzmaurice.
: O Devlin for Lynn; M Collins for Ó hÉochagáin; S O’Callaghan for Duggan.
D Lyons (Roscommon)
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