St Kieran’s produce powerful first half to deny Coláiste Mhuire

St Kieran's College 5-14, Coláiste Mhuire 1-6

The powerhouse that is St Kieran’s College, Kilkenny, proved a step too far for Mullingar’s Coláiste Mhuire, in the Leinster PPS Junior Hurling ‘A’ quarter-final on Friday, in wet conditions at Clonkill GAA grounds.

The home side put in an admirable showing for most of the first half and were well in contention at the end of the first quarter before the visiting side took a decisive grip on proceedings, two quickfire goals giving them a substantial lead. Before half-time the Coláiste Mhuire defence was breached for a third time and it was 3-11 to 0-5 at the break, a commanding lead in difficult playing conditions.

Coláiste Mhuire got some joy in the second half and a goal from centre forward Luke Dowling was no more than their effort deserved. Substitute Odhrán Devine was denied a goal as was corner-forward Zac Bates, the St Kieran's College ‘keeper, Dylan Brennan showing his strength at different times.

Coláiste Mhuire took the lead in the rain when wing-forward Jamie Leech pointed after a minute, but St Kieran’s hit three unanswered points and after Aidan Doyle’s free found the target, wing-forward Sean Morrissey shot four unanswered scores for the Kilkenny side. Doyle (free) and Jamie Leech kept Coláiste Mhuire in touch with tidy scores, but gradually St Kieran’s began to express their quality, their striking and movement very impressive. Mattie Corr, a member of last year’s side, underlined his strength with a quality strike for their tenth point on 19 minutes.

It was late in the half (26 minutes) when this game took its most decisive twist. Corr played a ball inside and corner-forward Brion Walsh netted with a low strike. From the puckout, St Kieran’s pressed high and forced a turnover before full-forward Liam Corcoran netted.

In a flash, St Kieran’s were 12 points clear. They added a third goal for good measure on the half-hour mark as midfielder Paul Millea found the net despite Ryan McNamee’s partial save.

Corcoran notched his side’s fourth goal two minutes after the restart before Coláiste Mhuire responded when centre-forward Luke Dowling shot low to the net, after Jamie Leech and Zac Bates were involved in the build-up. Dowling soon notched a free and it was 4-12 to 1-6 after 43 minutes. Corcoran completed his hat-trick in the 50th minute as St Kieran’s powered on to the semi-final.

Having lost the final of this competition to old rivals Kilkenny CBS on penalty pucks last year, St Kieran’s College are obviously keen to go one better and with a number of potential Kilkenny minor stars in the ranks, they will take some stopping.

Scorers - St Kieran’s: L Corcoran 3-1 (0-1f), S Morrissey 0-5, B Walsh and P Millea 1-0 each, S Norton 0-3, M Corr 0-2, J Stapleton, R Rhatigan and T Kennedy 0-1 each.

Coláiste Mhuire: L Dowling 1-1 (0-1f), A Doyle 0-2 (2f), J Leech 0-2, S Murray 0-1.

St Kieran’s: Dylan Brennan; Kyrell Mtinsi, Sean Kavanagh, Henry Phelan; Sean Corcoran, Enda Cunningham, Rory Rhatigan; Max Edwards, Paul Millea; Sean Norton, Mattie Corr, Sean Morrissey; Jack Stapleton, Liam Corcoran, Brion Walsh. Subs: Tadhg Kennedy for Edwards, James Tierney for Corcoran, Canice Powell for Stapleton, Lorcan Mahon for Walsh, James Moore for Cunningham.

Coláiste Mhuire: Ryan McNamee; Cathal Keena, Shane O’Mara, Tom Leech; Ruairí Heffernan, Michael Brennan, Ciaran McGrath; Ciaran Casserly, Adam Slevin Kiernan; Jamie Leech, Luke Dowling, Jack McGuinness; Aidan Doyle, Shane Murray, Zac Bates. Subs: Odhrán Devine for McGuinness, Killian Raleigh for Doyle (inj.), Shay Leavy for O’Mara, Oisin Gavin for Heffernan.

Referee: Jimmy Greville (Castlepollard).