GAELIC GAMES: DUBLIN JUVENILE ‘A’ FOOTBALL SEMI-FINAL
ST BENILDUS SKIN FINS FOR FINAL SAY
Daire Walsh
CIARAN Foley, Shane Flynn and Sean Monahan were in all excellent form for St Benildus College yesterday afternoon, as the Kilmacud side registered a commanding victory against an overwhelmed St Fintan’s High School in the semi-final of the Dublin Schools’ Juvenile Football ‘A’ Championship.
Playing on their home pitch (an immaculate all-weather surface), the influential trio secured an astonishing combined tally of 8-9, and although Kevin Byrne, Eoin Bridgeman and Cathal Brennan produced impressive displays for the northsiders, Benildus booked their place in their upcoming decider with considerable style.
The home team had opened the scoring with a second minute point from full-forward Monahan, but despite playing against a strong breeze, 2014 finalists Fintan’s developed an early five-point cushion.
At the end of a fine team move, captain Eoin Bridgeman found the top right-hand corner of the Benildus net, and they registered their second goal of the tie from the subsequent attack.
Lively corner-forward Matthew Nolan fired beyond the reach of Adam Mezjinski with much aplomb, as the Sutton outfit aimed to take the game by the scruff of the neck. The towering presence of Foley was providing Benildus with a strong outlet at midfield, though, and they had restored parity to the proceedings on the stroke of ten minutes.
A 0-4 salvo by the outstanding Flynn (who impressed throughout with his direct style of running) was supplemented by Monahan’s second of the day, and after Foley split the posts from a tight left-hand angle, Benildus had regained the ascendancy.
Indeed, a well-worked 11th minute three-pointer from Monahan created further daylight between the teams, and courtesy of subsequent Flynn and Monahan majors (as well as points by corner-forwards Daire Casserly and Aaron O’Toole), they had developed a 3-9 to 2-0 advantage at the end of the first-quarter.
Brennan had missed a gilt-edge goal-scoring opportunity, but his scrambled finish 19 minutes in did provide Fintan’s with a potential lifeline. Yet, they couldn’t build the kind of momentum that would force them back into the reckoning, and even though Jack Moylan and Brennan recorded quick-fire points, earlier goals from the half-forward duo of Flynn and Ronan Cullen offered the hosts a seemingly unassailable 15-point (5-11 to 3-2) interval buffer.
However, the strength of the wind meant that Fintan’s would have been hoping to reduce their deficit when the play resumed, and they certainly enjoyed plenty of possession in the early stages of the half. They also limited the supply into the Benildus full-forward line, but Fintan’s netminder Conor Ryan couldn’t prevent the imperious Foley from finding the back of the net at the end of a powerful 37th minute run.
This was another hammer blow for the north county school, and despite adding a point through Nolan in the direct aftermath of Foley’s major, further Benildus goals arrived through Monahan (his hat-trick) and Murphy.
Fintan’s midfielder Byrne interrupted this scoring sequence with a majestic two points from distance, but Foley completed his own hat-trick with goals in the 48th and 49th minutes respectively. Despite making a number switches in the final-quarter, Monahan found the target once more, and the aforementioned Casserly also contributed an eleventh and final goal for the victors just five minutes from time.
They did conceded a late point to Fintan’s substitute Thomas Hurley, but Benildus advanced to the final stage – where they will face the winners of tomorrow afternoon’s clash between defending champions Colaiste Eoin and Maynooth PP in UCD.
MATCH FILE
ST BENILDUS COLLEGE……………………………………11-13
ST FINTAN’S HS……………………………………………..3-6
SCORERS – St Benildus College: C Foley (0-1f), S Monahan 3-2 each, S Flynn 2-5 (0-1f), D Casserly 1-3, L Murphy 1-0, A O’Toole 0-1. St Fintan’s HS: C Brennan (0-1f), M Nolan 1-1 each, E Bridgeman 1-0, K Byrne 0-2, J Moylan, T Hurley 0-1 each.
ST BENILDUS COLLEGE: A Mezjinski; R O’Mahony, J Norton, D Kenny; A Nolan, C Lyndon, S Maguire; L Murphy, C Foley; J Feehan, S Flynn, R Cullen; A O’Toole, S Monahan, D Casserly. Subs: G Veale for O’Mahony (47), E McNerney for Cullen (50), D Naylor for Monahan (53).
ST FINTAN’S HS: C Ryan; D Furlong, E Kelly, F O’Carroll; T O’Donnell, S Alexander, L Flynn; K Byrne, E Bridgeman; E Hart, J Moylan, J Flanagan; M Nolan, C Brennan, S McGuinness. Subs: R Cantwell for Alexander (32), T Hurley for Flanagan (45), L Coakley for O’Carroll (49), T Cleary for Furlong, S Sherlock for Brennan (both 50), A Byrne for Flynn (53), S Watts for Moylan (54), J Herbert for O’Donnell, C McCarthy for Ryan (both 56).
REFEREE: E Walker (O’Toole’s).