DUBLIN JUV ‘B’ F FINAL: ST COLMCILLE’S 5-8 COL EANNA 3-4
Colmcille’s earn local bragging rights with win
Daire Walsh
DARRAGH Malone and Ben Lawlor were in sparkling form at O’Toole Park last Friday afternoon as St Colmcille’s CS had the measure of local rivals Colaiste Eanna in the Dublin Schools Juvenile Football ‘B’ Championship decider.
The two schools are located just over a mile apart from each other on the capital’s southside, and with several players from both teams playing club football together with Ballyboden St Enda’s, this was always going to be a fiercely competitive affair.
Eanna edged in front early on with a terrific goal from wing-forward Ross Mullarkey, but the Colmcille’s response to this setback was emphatic.
Malone and Lawlor secured quick-fire three-pointers for the Scholarstown Road outfit, and even though Eanna centre-forward Paul Basquel (cousin of Dublin footballer Colm) shot beyond the reach of opposition netminder Ryan Skelly, Colmcille’s midfielder James O’Brien brought the curtain down on a goal-laden opening half with a superb finish to the roof of the net.
This helped Colmcille’s to establish a 3-4 to 2-3 interval advantage, but Eanna got themselves up and running after the restart with a pointed free courtesy of full-forward Kieron Kiely. Colmcille’s appeared to settle once more with back-to-back efforts from Michael Hanrahan and Malone, only for Eanna corner-forward Sean Bury to reduce the gap to two points at the end of the third-quarter.
However, this was as close as the Ballyroan Crescent side came to reining in the challenge of their neighbours, as additional goals from Lawlor and Hanrahan guided an impressive St Colmcille’s towards a ten-point success.