Second-half blitz ends Kidare school’s reign in Dublin

BY DAIRE WALSH

A STUNNING second-half performance paid dividends for St Aidan’s CBS at Parnell’s GAA on Tuesday afternoon, as the Collins Avenue side secured an emphatic triumph over defending champions Maynooth Post-Primary in the Dublin Schools Senior Football ‘A’ Championship Final.

Maynooth were aiming to record a third consecutive title in this competition (following previous successes over Portmarnock Community School and St Benildus College), but despite having a slender advantage at the end of the first quarter, the lethal attacking duo of Paddy Small and Cian Gerrard – who amassed a combined total of 2-11 – inspired St Aidan’s towards a comprehensive victory.

Maynooth centre-forward Paddy Hever had opened the scoring with just two minutes gone on the clock, but although Conor Kavanagh forced an excellent save from Maynooth netminder Elliott Beatty, it proved to be a relatively tame start to the proceedings.

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The game finally came to life 11 minutes in, though, when Maynooth’s Johnny Flattery finished coolly beyond the reach of Seán Power via terrific approach work by Peadar Murray.

It was business as usual for Maynooth up to this point, but Aidan’s finally kick-started their own account two minutes later, when a long delivery towards the square was palmed home by the alert Small.

Aidan’s now had something to build on, and even though Hever was once more on target from a distance of 25 metres, it was quickly cancelled out by Gavin King.

Hever (free) and marauding half-back Daire Grey (who had played for the Dublin North hurlers alongside King the previous evening) subsequently swapped scores, prior to a routine close-range free from Flattery restoring the two-point lead of the Moyglare Road boys.

However, this proved to be Maynooth’s final score of the half, and just four minutes before the interval, Kavanagh and Small had found the range to restore parity to the contest. Indeed, Gerrard’s first score of the day had given Aidan’s a slender 1-5 to 1-4 cushion during the break, and with momentum on their side, they were in a promising position to claim the silverware.

The half-time introduction of James Doran also provided the Aidan’s attack with fresh legs, and within eight minutes of the restart, they had stolen a significant march on their north Kildare opponents.

Points from Donal Ryan and Small helped Aidan’s to maintain momentum upon the resumption, and with an excellent 1-1 salvo by the industrious Gerrard following, a significant gap was developing between the sides.

Hever did add his fourth free of the decider, but owing to unanswered contributions from the increasingly prolific Gerrard (two) and Small, Aidan’s had increased their lead to nine points.

A superb Flattery goal (his second) 12 minutes from time did offer some hope to Maynooth, yet their Metropolitan adversaries were quick to reply with asingle by Kavanagh.

Flattery brought his personal haul up to 2-2 late on, but with the outstanding Small slotting over four points in the final eight minutes of play, St Aidan’s emerged with a commanding success.

Scorers -St Aidan’s CBS: P Small 1-7 (0-3f), C Gerrard 1-4, C Kavanagh 0-2 (1f), D Gray, D Ryan, G King 0-1 each. Maynooth Post-Primary: J Flattery 2-2 (0-1f), P Hever 0-4 (4f).

St Aidan’s: S Power; R Kerins, S Brennan, T O’Sullivan; D Gray, C Doran, E Craig; A Elliott, D Ryan; G King, C Kavanagh, C Gerrard; A Conway, P Small, J Connell. Subs: J Doran for Conway (h-t), J Rafter for J Doran (59).

Maynooth PP: E Beatty; B Carroll, D Maguire, P Maguire; K Kelly, D O’Sullivan, M Hogan; B Travers, A Kelliher; D Cullen, P Hever, W McDonnell; F Stack, J Flattery, P Murray. Subs: S Flynn for Stack (h-t), K Dunne for Kelliher (37), A Cleary for Cullen (57), S Healy for Hever (59).

Referee: G McCormack (Naomh Barrog).