Coláiste Mhuire finish strongly to overcome Marist

Coláiste Mhuire 0-13 Marist College 0-7

Mullingar's Coláiste Mhuire were inaugural winners of the Westmeath Secondary Schools Transition Year football final at TEG Cusack Park on Wednesday, overcoming Marist College, Athlone.

It was largely unspectacular, but a couple of superb two-pointers from the Mullingar side proved decisive, their ability to kick scores from distance with the breeze behind them proving a major factor. The winners led by 0-5 to 0-3 at half-time and, at that stage, were in a strong position.

Marist College, aided by the breeze, went close to taking the lead through centre-forward Aodhan Fallon, but it was his opposite number Greg McDonnell who got the opening point after nine minutes. It was lacking finesse in the final third, but McDonnell set up Shane Canning for Mullingar’s second point.

Coláiste Mhuire went three clear when Kalvin Flynn converted a free in the 14th minute, and it was a minute later before Marist College got off the mark — Conor Duffy setting up Daniel Crosbie for a nice point with the left peg. That only served to elicit a renewed effort from the Mullingar side, who shot points via prominent full-back Shay Leavy and Darragh Daly (after Matthew Tully and Leavy combined).

Marist College had some joy in the closing five minutes, and their assertiveness brought two unanswered points from Fallon and wing-back Jack Preston: Fallon’s came from a ‘45’, while Preston showed fine skill to finish off a move and leave two points between the teams at the interval.

Coláiste Mhuire pressed on when play resumed thanks to a well-taken point by Leavy again, following Senan Brody’s pass. Tristan Duncan scored a wonderful point for Coláiste Mhuire after 11 minutes, but it was incorrectly signalled wide. However, Marist College responded with two fine scores as Fallon converted a free and Conor Johnson cut in along the endline to clip the ball over the bar from an acute angle.

At the end of the third quarter, Coláiste Mhuire held a three-point lead after a wonderful two-pointer from substitute Fionn Ledwith. Marist came close to responding after Shane Glennon’s fine clearance set up an attack that saw Fallon, Johnson, Fionn Cotton and Conor McEnroe all combine, but Coláiste Mhuire ‘keeper Tom McCaul produced a good save.

The Athlone side built on this, and Fionn Cotton set up Ruairi Nicholson for a neat point. Coláiste Mhuire’s Ryan Starr Keaveney was denied a goal by Finn Sheridan before McEnroe set up Johnson for his second point.

That set up an intriguing finish - Coláiste Mhuire leading narrowly by 0-8 to 0-7 with four minutes remaining. Odhran Devine almost landed a two-pointer, but his effort came off the upright, and eventually Coláiste Mhuire worked a point via Darragh Daly. That was followed by a terrific Greg McDonnell point as Coláiste Mhuire eased into a winning position again.

McDonnell was denied a goal after a nice move involving Sam Clerkin, but he made amends by slotting over a point. And a wonderful two-pointer by Odhran Devine ensured a six-point victory.

Afterwards, Darren Magee, Westmeath’s Games Development Manager, presented the cup to Sean O’Reilly, captain of the winning side.

Scorers — Coláiste Mhuire: D Daly, G McDonnell, S Leavy, F Ledwith (tp) and O Devin (tp) 0-2 each; K Flynn (f), S Canning and S Clerkin 0-1 each. Marist College: C Johnson and A Fallon (1f, 1 ‘45’) 0-2 each; R Nicholson, D Crosbie and J Preston 0-1 each.

Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar: Tom McCaul; MJ Burke, Shay Leavy, Eoin McGinley; Filip Socha, Sean O’Reilly, Brian Donoghue; Luke Ward, Tristan Duncan; Darragh Daly, Greg McDonnell, Kalvin Flynn; Matthew Tully, Shane Canning, Aidan Tuite. Subs used: Senan Brody, Oisin O’Farrell, Fionn Ledwith, Ryan Starr Keaveney, Odhran Devine, Sam Clerkin.

Marist College, Athlone: Finn Sheridan; Conor Kinahan, Shane Glennon, Ferghal Kelly; Ruairi Nicholson, Daniel Crosbie, Jack Preston; Cillian Silke, Harry Costello; Caimin Gunning, Aodhan Fallon, Conor Duffy; Conor McEnroe, Fionn Cotton, Brendan Nally. Sub used: Conor Johnson, Andrew Claffey, Luke Stankard, Odhran Finnegan, Redmond McHugh.

Referee: Michael Gordon (Shandonagh).