ST MAC DARA’S CC……………………….. 1-12
TERENURE COLLEGE……………………… 3-05
By Daire Walsh
MIDFIELDER Darren Murphy was the hero for St Mac Dara’s Community College in O’Toole Park ON Tuesday afternoon, as his point deep into second-half stoppage time handed the Wellington Lane side a dramatic victory over a spirited Terenure College in an entertaining Dublin Schools Senior Hurling ‘B’ decider.
Played in near-perfect conditions at the Kimmage venue, both teams took their time to settle into the game, and it was all of 13 minutes before the first score of the contest arrived, and it was Mac Dara’s (who have Dublin star Ryan O’Dwyer as part of their management team) who took the lead, thanks to a free from half-forward Michael Woods.
This was added to four minutes later by a well-taken score from play by corner-forward Diarmuid McLoughlin, before Terenure sparked into life with a goal from full-forward James Roche, who caught a long delivery to the left of the posts before finishing clinically past Michael Brennan in the Mac Dara’s goal.
This came as something of a set-back to Mac Dara’s, but they found themselves back in the lead thanks to points from Murphy and Woods (free). Terenure enjoyed the stronger finish to the half, though, as a brace of frees from Roche gave them a narrow lead (1-2 to 0-4) heading into the second period.
Mac Dara’s made by far the better start after the break, however, as three points from the excellent Diarmuid McLoughlin and one each from Woods and Cian Fallon edged them three points in front heading into the final twenty minutes of play.
Things started to go against Mac Dara’s around this point, though, as a speculative shot from distance by Terenure midfielder Thomas Walsh found its way into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, and the ‘Nure quickly secured their third goal of the game 44 minutes in, when Brennan failed to bat out substitute Eoghan Haddock’s strike from a tight angle on the left.
Roche quickly added his fourth free of the afternoon, but Terenure would suffer a hammer blow when Walsh was given a straight red-card for a chop down on Woods with 11 minutes remaining. This gave Mac Dara’s a much-needed lift heading into the final stretch, but Terenure were dealing quite well with their numerical disadvantage, and Roche looked like he had sealed the victory for them when he increased his side’s lead to four with just three minutes remaining.
Mac Dara’s had other ideas though, as they were back on level terms by the 59th minute when Fallon’s major from a goalmouth scramble was added to by a point from replacement Adam Kelly.
The momentum was now with Mac Dara’s and, having fallen short with a couple of efforts, Murphy finally secured the title for the Templeogue men by splitting the posts all of four minutes into injury-time, after a sublime pass by the outstanding Diarmuid McLoughlin.
SCORERS – St Mac Dara’s CC: M Woods (0-2f), D McLoughlin 0-4 each, C Fallon 1-1, D Murphy 0-2, A Kelly 0-1. Terenure College – J Roche 1-5 (0-4f), T Walsh, E Haddock 1-0 each.
St MAC DARA’S CC: M Brennan; D O’Beirne, E McLoughlin, D Kiernan; M Cronin, T Devlin, K Treacy; P Ward, D Murphy; M Woods, S Gleeson, P Dunne; D McLoughlin, C Fallon, C McLoughlin. Subs: A Kelly for C McLoughlin (52), L Kelly for Gleeson (62).
TERENURE COLLEGE: E McDonnell; S Faughan, A Hogan, O Wigglesworth; E O’Neill, B Mullin, O Barrett; T Walsh, K Wigglesworth; N O’Sullivan, B McEntee, D McCarthy; M Gilroy, J Roche, D Kerr. Subs: E Haddock for Gilroy (33), G Crowley for O Wigglesworth (55).
REFEREE: Fergus McGreevy (St Oliver Plunketts/ER).