St. Flannan's find a final flourish to roll on to Croke Cup semis

This war of attrition appeared to be heading Kilkenny’s way for the majority until Flannan's found a late burst

LATE RUSH: Darragh McNamara of St Flannan's College (right) helped lead the fightback. Photo by John Sheridan/Sportsfile

Dr. Croke Cup Quarter-Final: St. Flannan’s College 2-12 CBC Kilkenny 0-13 

Having seen their remarkable powers of recovery desert them in the Harty Cup Final, St. Flannan’s College were back to their fightback finest with a 2-3 final flourish to sink CBC Kilkenny in Bansha.

With the inclement conditions making for heavy underfoot conditions, this war of attrition appeared to be heading Kilkenny’s way for the majority. Led by talisman Patrick Lacey, the Leinster runners-up used the wind to fire the last six points of the opening period to carve out a five point interval advantage and still managed to cling to a four point cushion entering the final ten minutes.

Indeed, Joe Dowling’s 49th-minute point from the left wing ensured a 0-13 to 0-09 edge but amazingly it would be their final contribution to the scoreboard as St. Flannan’s completely flipped the script.

The catalyst for the comeback undoubtedly stemmed from a 50th minute goal after Darragh McNamara intercepted and offloaded to Graham Ball to find the bottom right corner of Rian Dowling’s net at 0-13 to 1-09.

Harry Doherty flashed a subsequent effort just wide of the same far post but backed by a newfound momentum, the Ennis college would have better luck over Dowling’s crossbar as John Barry picked three successive frees to nudge his side in front for the first time in 40 minutes at 1-12 to 0-13.

A grandstand finish would also be avoided in injury-time when Darragh Murrihy and Patrick Finneran combined to deliver into the corner for Harry Doherty to cut back in and pick out Thomas O’Connor for a sublime finish to the net.

It was cruel on CBC Kilkenny who had done so much of the heavy lifting in a dominant second quarter. Level three times by the 19th minute, the elusive Lacey garnered all but one of their impressive finale to stun their opponents by the break at 0-9 to 0-4.

The only way was up for St. Flannan’s but with John Barry unerring from frees, they bounded back off the ropes before St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield duo Ball and O’Connor struck the clinching knock-out blows to set up a Croke Cup semi-final showdown with Presentation College Athenry in a fortnight’s time.

Scorers for St. Flannan’s College: J Barry 0-6 (5f, 1’65); T O’Connor 1-1; H Doherty 0-3 (2f); G Ball (1-0); D McNamara, E O’Connor (0-1 each) 

Scorers for CBC Kilkenny: P Lacey 0-8 (6f); A Clifford, Z Scanlon, O O’Donovan, C Byrne, Joe Dowling 0-1 each 

St Flannan’s College: L Talty (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield); D Ball (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), S McNamara (Clooney-Quin), D Murrihy (Inagh-Kilnamona); G Ball (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), J Cullinan (Ruan), C Daly (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield); I Hassett (Clooney-Quin), J Barry (Inagh-Kilnamona); H Doherty (Clarecastle), E O’Connor (Ballyea), R Ralph (Clarecastle); T O’Connor (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), D McNamara (Clooney-Quin), D Loftus (Éire Óg) Subs: B Talty (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for Hassett (38), D Mahon (Clooney-Quin) for Loftus (41), P Finneran (Clooney-Quin) for E. O’Connor (46) 

CBC Kilkenny: R Dowling (Dicksboro); K Barcoe (Young Irelands), N Gibbons (Dicksboro), C Barcoe (Thomastown); Z O’Halloran (John Lockes), J Dowling (Erins Own), J Bergin (James Stephens); P O’Brien (John Lockes), A Clifford (Dicksboro); L McDonald (O’Loughlin Gaels), P Lacey (Dicksboro), J Dowling (Dicksboro); C Byrne (O’Loughlin Gaels), O O’Donovan (John Lockes), Z Scanlon (James Stephens) Subs: J Roche (Rower Inistioge) for O’Brien (52), A Maher (O’Loughlin Gaels) for Joe Dowling (59) 

Referee: Eamonn Stapleton (Limerick)