GAELIC GAMES: LEINSTER SF ‘A’ ROUND 1
ST BENILDUS CROSS MOATE
Kilmacud school follow juvenile joy with ten-point victory
ST BENILDUS COLLEGE……………………………………… 5-7
MOATE COMMUNITY SCHOOL…………………………… 0-12
Daire Walsh
GOALS were the order of the day for St Benildus College yesterday afternoon, as the Kilmacud school progressed to the next round of the Leinster SF ‘A’ Championship with an impressive 10 point victory over Moate CS.
The southsiders had seven different scorers in total throughout the course of the action, and even though Joe Lowry and David Fleming impressed in the Moate attack, second period goals from Joseph Rafferty, Dan O’Brien and Patrick Flaherty helped the hosts to develop a commanding cushion during the final-quarter.
It had already been a memorable week for Benildus, who were crowned Dublin Schools’ Juvenile ‘A’ Football champions following an epic final encounter against neighbours Colaiste Eoin last Friday. They will be hoping to make a significant impact in this competition, and it was certainly of major benefit that they were able to play on their home pitch.
Flaherty and Callum Pearson provided Benildus with a strong physical presence at midfield, and with nominal corner-forward Eoin Foley also playing a slightly withdrawn role, there was plenty of room for their attack to manouevre.
Scores were at a premium for much of the opening half, but thanks to a well-taken goal by Pearson (who was one of a number of Benildus players to feature for Kilmacud Crokes in this year’s Dublin Minor Football Championship), they did create some daylight between themselves and the Lake County outfit.
INDUSTRIOUS
Industrious half-forward Andrew Fox also raised a green flag for the home team, while the inside duo of Tom Keane and Tom Fox contributed a combined tally of 0-6.
Three scores from the boot of Daniel Heavin ensured that Moate remained in contention, and owing to additional points by David Fleming (two) and corner-forward Rob Forde, the Benildus lead had been reduced to three (2-3 to 0-6) before the interval.
Moate were still in the reckoning when the action resumed, but following back-to-back scores by the central attacking axis of Rafferty and Tom Fox, Benildus opened up a five-point gap with 15 minutes remaining in the contest.
Indeed, there was now a sense that momentum was on their side, and at the end of a lung-bursting run through the heart of the Moate defence, Rafferty secured another three-pointer by delicately chipping the advancing Jordan Nugent.
Moate were now facing into a seemingly insurmountable deficit, but to their credit, they continued to search for scores as the half wore on.
Lowry converted a routine free on the stroke of 50 minutes, and from the subsequent attack, he once again found the target from close-range.
Benildus were proving to be wasteful with some of their efforts from distance, but they eventually placed the tie beyond the reach of Moate in the 53rd-minute. Excellent approach work by Pearson and Flaherty opened up a path towards the opposition goal, and the raiding O’Brien found the roof of the net emphatically.
Moving towards the end of normal time, Moate added two points without reply from Heavin and Sean Farrell, before Flaherty displayed great composure to register Benildus’ fifth goal of the tie. This major was certainly worthy of his performance on the day, and despite conceding a late score to Moate substitute Sean Pettit, Tom Fox’s majestic point from 35 metres was the icing on the cake for St Benildus.
MATCH FILE
Scorers – St Benildus College: J Rafferty 1-1, T Fox 0-4, P Flaherty, C Pearson, D O’Brien, A Fox 1-0 each, T Keane 0-2. Moate Community School: J Lowry (2f), D Fleming (f), D Heavin (f) 0-3 each, S Farrell, R Forde, S Pettit 0-1 each.
ST BENILDUS COLLEGE: A O’Callaghan; A Walsh, L Doran, S O’Reilly; A Bradshaw, D Keogh, P O’Reilly; P Flaherty, C Pearson; D O’Brien, J Rafferty, A Fox; T Keane, T Fox, E Foley.
SUBS: B Carr for O’Reilly (40).
MOATE COMMUNITY SCHOOL: J Nugent; R Aspell, A Gorman, P Gorman; K Hartnett, J Fannin, S Clinton; D Falsey, S Fitzpatrick; P Maxwell, D Fleming, D Heavin; S Farrell, J Lowry, R Forde.
SUBS: S Pettit for Forde (46), C Claffey for Clinton (57), E Heavin for Fitzpatrick (58).
REF: Alan Lagrue (Kildare).