Laois Offaly school concede late penalty as they miss out on North Leinster final

Coláiste Íosagáin Portarlington have missed out on a place in the North Leinster Junior Football ‘B’ Final, losing at home by a single goal to St Joseph’s CBS of Drogheda. The goal came in the 50th minute when Drogheda were awarded a contentious penalty. Dylan Quick got a strong hand to Liam Brannigan’s critical strike, but could not keep the ball out of the net.

Coláiste Íosagáin arrived at Tuesday’s semi-final having dispatched of Dunshaughlin in the quarters by a mammoth score of 6-14 to 1-2. The Portarlington school made two changes from that team, with the O’Dempsey’s pair of Quick and Ben McCann replacing Conor Maher in goal, and the injured Jordan Downey in the half-forward line.

St Joseph’s CBS Drogheda 1-14

Coláiste Íosagáin Portarlington 0-14

North Leinster Junior Football ‘B’ Semi Final

Sean Michael Ward opened the scoring with a free in the first minute and Coláiste Íosagáin took over from there, racing into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead inside ten minutes with scores from McCann, two from Ultan Dunne and a second free from Ward.

But St Joseph’s then hit an almighty purple patch, scoring nine unanswered points in the space of ten minutes, including eight from play.

Dunne finally slotted over a free to put a brief halt to the onslaught, fifteen minutes after Íosagáin’s last score. The Drogheda school grabbed a point towards the end of the half to lead by double scores at the break, 0-12 to 0-6.

The Coláiste Íosagáin full-forward line got a score each at the start of the second half as Ward, Dunne and Craig Weldon laid down a marker of intent.

St Joseph’s hit back with two quick scores on the 40-minute mark before the hosts took over again. Ward finished off a lovely score midway through the half before he and Dunne added a free each.

Then came the moment of controversy at the end of the game: Quick was adjudged to have illegally brought down the oncoming Branningan, who stood up and converted the match-winning penalty.

Dunne added two points as Íosagáin went in search of a goal to bring the game to extra time, but the Drogheda defence held firm.

It was a game with serious bite. A number of incidents, both on and off the ball, saw both sides receive multiple yellow cards throughout the game. The bad blood continued with another melee after the final whistle, as frustrations boiled over.

SCORERS – Coláiste Íosagáin: Ultan Dunne 0-8 (four frees), Sean Michael Ward 0-4 (all frees), Ben McCann and Craig Waldon 0-1 each. St Joseph’s CBS: Liam Brannigan 1-5 (1-0 penalty and 0-2 frees), Andrew O’Reilly 0-5 (one free), Paddy McHugh 0-3, Callum Shevlin 0-1.

COLÁISTE ÍOSAGÁIN PORTARLINGTON: Dylan Quick (O’Dempsey’s); John Cooney (Portarlington), Jack Murphy (Portarlington), Liam Burke (Courtwood); Hugh Connolly (Portarlington), Matthew O’Sullivan (Portarlington), Tom Corcoran (Portarlington); Hugo Emerson (Portarlington), Ruairí Burke (Emo); Paddy Murray (Portarlington), Darragh Lawrence (Gracefield), Ben McCann (O’Dempsey’s); Ultan Dunne (O’Dempsey’s), Craig Weldon (Gracefield), Sean Michael Ward (Portarlington).

Subs: Jake Nolan (Gracefield) for McCann (22 mins), Rian Breereton (O’Dempsey’s) for Ward (53 mins).

ST JOSEPH’S CBS DROGHEDA: Colm Hacket; Callum Wogan, Donal Quinn, Garbhan O’Reilly; Paddy McHugh, Cormac McArdle, Sean Keane; Dan Reilly, Finn Nugent; Evan McCluskey, Liam Brannigan, Callum Shevlin; Andrew O’Reilly, Donnacha Skinnader, John Woods.

Subs: Donnacha Hodgins for Evan McCluskey (51 mins).