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The
second All Ireland U16 Vocational
Schools semi final was played in
Stradbally in near perfect conditions on
an excellent playing surface in a
beautiful location in Co Laois.
Like the Ulster final St Columbans
started slowly and it was Boherbue who
opened the scoring with an excellent
free from their best player Dean
Fitzgerald. It took St Columbans 10mins
to settle into their stride and Cathal
Doyle free-levelled matters. Boherbue
werent Munster champions for nothing and
after 15mins hit St Columbans with a
goal and a point within the space of 2
mins. A high ball from midfilder John O
Keefe caused confusion in the St
Columbans Full back line and full
forward O Connell put the ball in the
net. The same player followed up with a
lovely score two mins later to leave St
Columbans trailing 1-2 to 0-1.
A
lovely score from Malachy Trainor in the
20th Minute cut the deficit
to 3 points but another fine score from
the impressive Fitzgerald put Boherbue
1-3 to 0-2 up. Another Cathal Doyle free
closed the gap to 3 and then the Ulster
Champions showed why their Champions
with 4 unanswered points in a super 7
mins from Ireland, Poland and 2 from the
impressive Cathal Doyle. This spell of
play made what looked like a very
difficult half time team talk for
Poacher a little easier.
The
second half started the way the 1st
half ended, Kilkeel took the bull by the
horns and tore into Boherbue with M
Ireland, Diarmuid Flanagan and Malachy
Trainor in impressive form. At this
stage of the game, Boherbue’s main
outlet the impressive Fitzgerald no 11
was being well shackled by the immense
Higgins and a superb half back line of
Sloan and Mc Dowell.
The
next 5 mins was a crazy passage of play
which seen M Ireland who had been
switched to full forward amazingly hit
the crossbar, the right post and the
left post all within the space of 3
minutes. Boherbue from this let off went
down the field and scored another point
from wing forward Moynihan. That was to
be Boherbue ‘s last score of the game
due to some wonderful defending from
Gartland, Doran and O Hare.
Despite young Ireland hitting the
woodwork on 3 occasions this boy showed
why he is a quality footballer when he
hit 2 unanswered scores to leave St
Columbans leading by 3 points with 15
mins to go. Despite Doyle, Cunningham
and Poland dominating play in the middle
of the field this game was still in the
balance with 10 mins to go. Until the
move of the match involving Higgins, C
Doyle and eventually ending up with
Malachy Trainor rounding the keeper and
hitting the net much to the delight of
the large number of Mourne fans who had
made the long trip.
From the kickout M Ireland scored again
and the game was beyond the Munster
Champions and in the last minute of the
game the hard working Poland raced
through to hammer the ball between the
sticks to put the icing on the cake and
send St Columbans to an All Ireland
Final in Parnell Park against Leinster
and Wexford champions Rosslare of
Wexford.
After the game a relieved Tom Cunningham
who was last involved with the team in
1991 when they were beaten in the All
Ireland Final stated… “ If we play as
well as we did in the second half it
will take a very good team to beat us.”
Manager Steven Poacher was delighted
with the result but particularly pleased
with the support the team has received
recently..
“ A lot of people have made sacrifices
to put us where we are now, in an All
Ireland Final, something we could only
have dreamed about way back in September
when we started training but here we are
now and Id like to thank people who v
supported us so far. The support has
been remarkable on a level none of us
would have expected and it’s a real
credit to anyone who s made this journey
down here today or supported us
previously. There are 3 supporters buses
and endless numbers of cars here today
and hopefully we ll have that same
support next Saturday in Dublin where we
aim to make history and win the school
its first ever All Ireland. “
FINAL SCORE ST COLUMBANS 1-13 BOHERBUE
1- 04
Scorers... Cathal Doyle 0 -05, Michael
Ireland 0 -05, Malachy Trainor 1 -01,
Conor Poland 0- 02
St Columbans Team...
1 Mark Sloan
2 Conor O Hare
3 Ryan Doran
4 Jamie Carroll
5 Edward Sloan
6 Michael Higgins
7 Darren Mc Dowell
8 Chris Cunningham
9 Conor Poland
10 Malachy Trainor
11 Michael Ireland
12 Cathal Doyle
13 Diarmuid Flanaghan
14 Darren Doyle
15 Patrick Gartland
Sub used
17 Ryan O Hare
Boherbue team…
1 Billy Daly
9 J O Keefe
2D Casey
10 B o Connell
3 S Kelly
11 D Fitzgerald
4 B Stack
12 M Moynihan
5 D Allen
13 J Corkery
6 B ORiordan 14 D
O Connell
7 S o Connor 15
R Carroll
8 S Murphy
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