ARDSCOIL COMPLETE HIGH FIVE
Brave Colmcille’s can’t stop Griffith Avenue school as O’Flaherty’s goal helps send Ris to a historic success
DUBLIN JUNIOR ‘A’ HURLING FINAL
ARDSCOIL RIS………………………………………….. 1-11
ST COLMCILLE’S CS……………………………………. 0-7
By Daire Walsh
A STRONG defensive display provided the framework for Ardscoil Ris at O’Toole Park yesterday afternoon, as the Griffith Avenue school were crowned Dublin Schools Junior ‘A’ Hurling champions for an incredible fifth year in succession.
With a significant breeze to their advantage for the opening period, impressive scores from Tom O’Flaherty, Robert O’Sullivan, John Walsh, captain Conor Burke (two) and midfielder Ben McHugh helped Ardscoil to build up an early six point cushion.
Colmcille’s were struggling to cope with the elements, but the switch of James Madden from full-forward to a new position on the ‘40’ added a new dimension to their attack, and centre-back Cillian Byrne’s subsequently opened the Knocklyon side’s account from a 17th minute free.
REINFORCED
Half-forward duo James O’Donnell and Burke reinforced Ardscoil’s supremacy with back-to-back scores from play, but thanks to couple of successful stoppage-time frees from Byrne, Colmcille’s managed to keep the deficit at five points (0-8 to 0-3) during for the interval.
A Sean Currie point added to Ardscoil’s tally upon the resumption, before Colmcille’s received a lifeline on the stroke of 40 minutes when Madden was hauled down inside the small square.
Colmcille’s netminder Conor O’Donoghue was the man tasked with taking the resultant penalty, but his strike from 21 metres was ultimately diverted away from the target.
Swapped points between Byrne and O’Flaherty followed, leaving Ardscoil six points to the good inside the closing ten minutes.
When Madden was once again impeded close to goal, O’Donoghue had a chance to make up for his earlier miss. However, the reliable Dumbrell was equal to his second effort, producing a spectacular low stop on the left-hand side.
Having come up short in both these instances, Colmcille’s chances of success were looking decidedly ominous, and when a lung-bursting run by McHugh offered the platform for an O’Flaherty goal on 58 minutes, Ardscoil were primed for victory.
TRIUMPH
A battling Colmcille’s did add points from Karl Reddy and Byrne, but despite losing Darragh Levins to a second yellow-card deep into stoppage-time, Burke’s routine free had helped Ardscoil to ease towards their historic triumph.
SCORERS – Ardscoil Ris: T O’Flaherty 1-2, C Burke 0-4 (2f), B McHugh, R O’Sullivan, J O’Donnell, S Currie, J Walsh 0-1 each. St Colmcille’s CS: C Byrne 0-5 (5f), C O’Donoghue (‘65’), K Reddy 0-1 each.
ARDSCOIL RIS: L Dumbrell, J Weinmann, L Stacey, O Nolan; D Levins, J Higgins, C McGuinness; R O’Sullivan, B McHugh; T O’Flaherty, C Burke, J O’Donnell; E O’Neill, S Currie, J Walsh. Subs: S Lambe for Walsh (49).
ST COLMCILLE’S CS: C O’Donoghue; D Byrne, R Wallace, M Normile; R Keegan, C Byrne, K Reddy; K Weldon, S Lally; D Nugent, C Barton, D Jones; R McCormack, J Madden, J Dooney. Subs: R MacMathuna for Dooney (22), C Kelly for Nugent (58), Dooney for McCormack (58).
REF: B Doran (St Colmcille’s).