Chaitríona singing in the rain as Hickey hits mark in decider

BY DAIRE WALSH – 13 NOVEMBER 2014 02:30 PM

Amid torrential rain at O’Toole Park on Tuesday afternoon, Scoil Chaitríona survived a late onslaught from Salesian College, Celbridge to secure the Dublin Post-Primary Schools Senior Hurling ‘B’ crown.

lifeline

A 59th-minute goal by substitute Dylan Burke had offered a lifeline to the north Kildare outfit, but with corner-forward Seán Hickeycontributing 0-10 to his side’s tally, Chaitríona held out for a slender triumph.

The Mobhi Road school had made a dream start courtesy of Cathal Caverley’s kicked goal inside the opening minute, and Hickey’s firstscore arrived from a close-range free before a Seán Lawlor point eight minutes in finally helped Salesian to settle.

Buoyed by this score, Salesian subsequently restored parity thanks to a magnificent three-pointer by impressive centre-forward CillianByrne.

Inside forward Liam O’Flynn also registered a brace of scores, but with Hickey adding four points to hispersonal haul, Chaitríona developed a morale-boosting 1-6 to 1-3 half-time cushion.

A second-half comeback by Salesian could not be ruled out, however, and although Hickey opened the scoring after the restart, Ciaran O’Shaughnessy’s eye-catching point on 40 minutes kept them within touching distance.

effort

Hickey followed his seventh free of the tie with a first effort from open play, though, and after back-to-back scores by substitutes Ciaran O’Regan and Keelan Smith breathed fresh life into the Salesian challenge, another brace from the dynamic attacker moved Chaitríona into a five-point ascendancy.

Burke’s opportunistic finish intensified the closing moments of the contest, but Scoil Chaitríona ultimately dug deep to secure the title.