Patricians Newbridge and Scoil Mhuire Clane both comfortably beaten in Schools Championship

Leinster PPS pre quarter-final

St.Mel's College 4-12

Patricians College 2-6

Following the exit of Scoil Mhuire, Clane, the previous day, Patrician Newbridge made their exit from the Leinster PPS 'A' Football Championship at the pre-quarter-final stage following a resounding defeat by favourites St Mel's of Longford at Pearse Park on Thursday of last week.

While the rain abated just prior to throw-in, a strong, bitterly cold win certainly made things difficult for both teams but it was Mel's, who had the benefit of the elements of the opening half and they made it pay.

Rarely did Patrician threaten in that opening half with St Mel's getting their opening goal of the game on five minutes and but for the visiting keeper, Ronan Collins, the margin could have been much more.

Midway through the half the home side led 1-3 to no score, added three more points before the break, but even more importantly for them a second goal in the 23 minute from Gavin Farrelly saw them lead 2-7 to no score after 23 minutes.

Sam Ryan opened the Patrician account with a pointed free on 25 but Paddy Moran added another white flag for Mel's to leave the half-time score reading 2-8 to 0-1.

Patrician did get a lift when Mel's lost midfielder Jack Belton to a straight red on 32 minutes. However, being the good side that they are responded to that set-back adding a third goal from Michael Flynn to make it 3-9 to 0-1 on 38 minutes.

Harry Redmond was denied a goal by a fine save from Mel's keeper Caolan Hussey before Eoin Curtin got the visitors second point of the game.

That was followed soon after when Eoghan Dunne fired in a long effort, gathered by Harry Redmond whose initial shot came off the crossbar but the Sarsfields man was on hand to palm the rebound to the ne; Jack Mahony added a point but there was no denying Mel's who tacked on two more.

Mahony added a free before Patrician were awarded a penalty, Mahony being fouled; he took the spot kick himself, scored, but was ordered to retake it and converted it again to make it 3-11 to 2-4.

A few more points were added before the long whistle arrived St Mel's advancing to the quarter-final on a score line of St Mel's 4-12 Patrician 2-6.

Scorers: St Mel's Matthew Clancy 1-5 (1 free), Andrew Flynn 1-1, Harry Mulvihill 1-0, Michael Flynn 1-0, Paddy Moran 0-3, Matthew Flynn 0-2 (1 free), Gavin Farrelly 0-1.

Patrician Newbridge: Jack Mahony 1-3 (penalty, 2 frees), Sam Ryan 1-1 (1 free), , Ryan Kearney 0-1, Eoin Curtin 0-1.

ST MEL'S: Caolan Hussey; Conor Smith, Adam Donnelly, Kevin Basket; Gavin Farrelly, Ross Shields, James Connell; Jack Belton, Matthew Carey; Andrew Flynn, Matthew Flynn, Jonathan Burke; Michael Flynn, Harry Mulvihill, Paddy Moran. Subs: Ronan Courtney for Andrew Flynn (half-time); Cormac Harte for Jonathan Burke (46 minutes); Cormac Flynn for Matthew Flynn (59 minutes).

PATRICIAN: Ronan Collins (Moorefield); Padraig Daly (Round Towers), James Loughman (Sarsfields), Adam Joyce Bowles (Moorefield); Eoghan Dunne (Athgarvan), Conor Walsh (Moorefield), Conor Sheerin (Milltown); Sean Hennessy (Milltown), Jack Mahony (Sarsfields); Ryan Kearney (Sarsfields), Eoin Curtin (Rathangan), Harry Redmond (Sarsfields); Sam Ryan (Moorefield), Ian McLoughlin (Moorefield), Ben Loakman (Sarsfields). Subs: Joe Dunne (Milltown) for Ben Loakman (28 minutes); Cian Byrne (Sarsfields) for Sam Ryan (43 minutes); Jamie Coffey (Sarsfields) for Ian McLoughlin (57 minutes); Tom Stapleton (Milltown) for Adam Joyce Bowles (55 minutes).

REFEREE: Michael Gordon, Westmeath.

Moate CS 5-15

Scoil Mhuire Clane 2-6

Moate Community School cruised to a comfortable victory over Scoil Mhuire Clane in the Leinster Schools Senior Football ‘A’ preliminary knockout round.

The old adage started as you mean to go on certainly rang true as Moate’s Ronan Murray opened the scoring inside 15 seconds of play.

That would be foreboding for Clane in regards to both Moate themselves and Murray who would go on to score an impressive 2-3 in the game.

After the fast opener, Clane replied with a well-taken free-kick from DJ Percival but that would be their last for 10 minutes as Moate seized control of the game. It was easy going for the Westmeath school as they raced into an 0-5 to 0-1 lead.

However, Clane brought themselves steaming back into this contest with a goal from seemingly nothing. Wing-back Ryhs Vaughan picked up the ball outside the Moate 45 and with little or no options, he began off on a run of his own.

Vaughan beat three men with relative ease, not speeding past them but with a mazy run that saw him get through on goal and fire Clane back into this game in an instant.

A moment of inspiration from Vaughan but Moate must be credited for their response as they stayed perfectly calm and began slotting over points once again like nothing had changed.

It was an impressive display and five minutes later got their first goal of the afternoon and one that would knock the stuffing out of the Kildare side. A stunning strike from Moate corner-forward Conor Fox who side-footed the ball over the keeper and into the top corner. It was a strike that you certainly don't see every day and it was of the highest quality.

The half-time whistle blew and Moate entered the break with a commanding 1-9 to 1-3 lead.

Regardless of the flow of the game, six points in football is far from insurmountable and the first half can certainly attest to the fact that goals can come from out of nowhere. The teams went toe-to-toe in the early exchanges, with two points being jotted down for either side.

The game was in a delicate balance with Moate hoping to end this as a contest and Clane hoping to spring into life and mount a comeback. It would be the former that would come to fruition as it was another goal from a wing-back, but this time it was Moate’s Padriag McLoughlin who raised a green flag for his side.

McLoughlin broke from deep and was through on goal when he appeared to be going to ground under a strong challenge. He managed to get his shot away as he fell to the floor and what a shot it was as he found the far corner of the net. This game was one for unique goals and this certainly fell into that category.

Moate would run out comfortable winners as they added three more goals to their tally through Tiarnan O’Donovan and twice through Ronan Murray.

Scorers: Moate CS, Ronan Murray 2-3, Tiarnan O’Donovan 1-2, Eoin Bracken 0-4 (0-2 frees) Conor Fox 1-0, Padraig McLoughlin 1-0, David O’Reilly 0-2, Daragh Lowry 0-1, Dean O’Neill 0-1, Donal Shirley 0-1, Aaron Murphy 0-1.

Scoil Mhuire Clane, Dj Percival 1-4, Rhys Vaughan 1-0, Cormac Denagher 0-1, Tadhg O’Donoghue 0-1.

MOATE: James Mitchell; Tom Gorman, Cathal Guinan, Adam Keane; Padraig McLoughlin, Donal Shirley, Aodhan Curran; Daragh Lowry, Eoin Bracken; David O'Reilly, Dean O'Neill, Conaire Martin; Conor Fox, Tiarnan O'Donovan, Ronan Murray. Subs: Aaron Murphy on for David O’Reilly (59 minutes).

CLANE: Hugh Muldoon; Conor Sullivan, Aaron Manders, James O'Donoghue; Calum Doran, James Keely, Rhys Vaughan; Daniel Colbert, Enda Keane; Adam Fitzpatrick, Cormac Denagher, DJ Percival; Tadhg O Donoghue, Aidan Ralph, James Ralph. Subs: Ronan Doorey on for James Ralph (47 minutes), Ethan Farrell on for Enda Keane (52 minutes).