Scoil Mhuire Clane come up just short in Leinster Senior Football schools quarter-final

Leinster Senior Football ‘A’ Quarter Finals

St Pat’s Navan 3-8

Scoil Mhuire Clane 1-11

Scoil Mhuire, Clane came up short in their pursuit of a Leinster Senior semi-final spot when they faced St Patrick’s Navan. It was a credit to the Clane school’s resilience that they even had a squeak coming down the home stretch because, in truth, they looked second best for large swathes of this game.

It was just 0-1 to no score as we reached the 10-minute mark, the Navan school held a narrow lead and racked up no fewer than five wides with one dropped short.

The game would ramp up drastically in the next 10 however as St Pat’s kicked themselves three points clear and Clane looked like they just needed to stay in the game, such was the pressure they were under.

However, they would put together a run of three scores in as many minutes to draw themselves level in rapid fashion. Adam Fitzpatrick would get his first side’s first score of the day with a superb curled effort from range. 

A DJ Percival free and a Daragh Mulahy converted rebound was enough to put Clane back on terms.

St Pat’s took off on a tear of their own as they now found themselves in a draw game that they had previously dominated. Andrew Gormley popped over a fine score, which was quickly followed by an even better one from out wide by Cian Commons.

From their next attack, the Navan school were through on goal and midfielder Darren O’Brien looked certain to find the net. And he would have were it not for a heroic clearance by Patrick Connolly, that was immediately volleyed into the back into the net by an arriving on the scene Billy Smyth. The goal was a hammer blow for Scoil Mhuire who now trailed 1-5 to 0-3 after doing so well to claw their way back into this game.

There would be no change in the margin of St Pat’s lead before the break as points were exchanged at either end. The Navan school led 1-7 to 0-5 at half-time.

Clane had the breeze at their backs for the second half and hopes were high for a resurgence and certainly a step up in performance. Those hopes were almost immediately dampened as St Pat’s found the net less than a minute into the second half.

Cian Commons found corner-forward Andrew Gormley in space with an excellent lofted ball over the opposition defence. Gormley finished coolly past Hugh Muldoon to give his side a commanding lead.

Gormley would hit the net again a little over 10 minutes later in similar fashion to make the game 3-8 to 0-8. 

However, it would be St Pat’s last score of the afternoon with 17 minutes still remaining as Clane got their tails up having been lifted by a goal of their own through Ronan Doorey.

Two points from DJ Percival and an exceptional free from Killian O’Sullivan meant Clane trailed by three for the closing four minutes plus. The trailing side pushed hard to find the net, but couldn’t work a clear chance for themselves.

A valiant effort considering where they were midway through the second half, but the Clane school had left themselves too much to do.

St Pat's, Andrew Gormley 2-1, Billy Smyth 1-1, Cian Commons 0-3 (0-1 frees), Fionnán O'Connor 0-2 (0-1 frees), Conor Donohoe 0-1.

Scoil Mhuire Clane, DJ Percival 0-5 (0-4 frees), Adam Fitzpatrick 0-3, Ronan Doorey 1-0, Daragh Mulahy 0-2, Killian O'Sullivan 0-1 (0-1 frees).

ST PATS NAVAN: Jamie Norris; Fionn McHale, Seán McLoughlin, Tadhg Murray; Óisín O'Neill, Matthew Kealy, James Donnelly; Darren O'Brien, David Donnelly; Fionnán O'Connor, Cian Commons, Harry Cahill; Andrew Gormley, Billy Smyth, Conor Donohoe. Subs: Jamie Duffy for Conor Donohoe (44 minutes), Daniel Gavagan for Óisín O'Neill (44 minutes), MacKenzie Doyle for Darren O'Brien (49 minutes), Senan Duffy for Fionnán O'Connor (56 minutes).

SCOIL MHUIRE CLANE: Hugh Muldoon; James O'Donoghue, Patrick Connolly, Conor O'Sullivan; Calum Doran, Liam Blake, Mick O'Toole; Daniel Colbert, Ruadhan Kane; Ronan Doorey, Adam Fitzpatrick, Fergal McKennedy; Killian O'Sullivan, Daragh Mulahy, DJ Percival. Subs: Ben Kehoe for Mick O'Toole (40 minutes), Josh Gannon for Fergal McKennedy (50 minutes).

Referee: David Sweeney