By Daire Walsh

Thursday May 03 2012

Ardscoil Ris 2-9 Colaiste Eanna 2-2

Late goals from Eoin O’Neill and Conor Burke proved decisive at O’Toole Park on Tuesday afternoon as Ardscoil Rís got over the heartbreak of their loss in last year’s Tom Quinlan Cup decider to claim this year’s title with a seven-point victory over a spirited Coláiste éanna side.

Played in extremely wet and windy conditions, Ardscoil Rís raced into an early five-point lead thanks to some fine scores from O’Neill, Burke and John Walsh, but two quickfire goals from the Ballyroan school (including one from a penalty) suddenly saw the Griffith Avenue side facing into a deficit.

Dominant

They responded well to these set-backs, however, as further scores from O’Neill, Cian O’Brien and Tom O’Flaherty helped them towards a 0-8 to 2-0 mid-way lead.

Though Rís had been the dominant team during the opening period, the game was still delicately poised, and éanna pressed hard upon the resumption.

As the game moved into the final quarter of play, scores were becoming few and far between, though Rís always held a narrow cushion over their south Dublin rivals.

They were solid in defence throughout the contest, which meant that they were able to flourish in the éanna ’45’ and, following some excellent approach play, they managed to register two crucial majors from O’Neill and Burke, which proved enough to get them over the line.

Aside from the aforementioned O’Neill, Burke and O’Brien, Rís also had fine performances from Jack Higgins, Conor Ryan, Seán Collins, Michael Collins and Ben McHugh, many of whom featured in the school’s loss to Coláiste Eoin in the Juvenile Hurling ‘A’ final last week.

Having also reached the All-Ireland Senior Football ‘B’ final, it has been a fine year for the school when it comes to Gaelic football, and there are plenty of reasons for them to be cheerful as they look towards the future.

– Daire Walsh