Hard working Colaiste Choilm students come up short as in-form Mullingar take title

A TALENTED young group of sports youths in Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore have certainly been learning harsh lessons in the past week or so about how to handle defeat and their ambitions of winning the Leinster Colleges First Year “A” football Br Hubert Cup were ended by a very good Colaiste Mhuire, Mullingar side in O'Connor Park on Monday.

Leinster Colleges First Year Football Br Hubert Cup final

Colaiste Mhuire, Mullingar 4-10

Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore 3-3

On the day, they gave it their best shot and a few things went against them but Colaiste Mhuire were the better team on the day and deserved to win.

The scoreline was harsh on Colaiste Choilm and they could have been a lot closer. They conceded a couple of soft goals and had ample chances themselves to have made a game out of it. It would be stretching things to suggest that the Tullamore side could have pulled off a win if everything had fallen their way and the impression remains that Colaiste Mhuire would have been able to find another gear if real pressure came to bear.

Unfortunately for Colaiste Choilm, they didn't manage to test that theory and that is the biggest lesson of all for them to take from this. That even on days when things are going wrong, when the game is slipping out of reach, to keep doing the right thing, to keep working hard, take the simple scores and see what happens.

There was no issues whatsoever with their work rate, honesty and desire here. They were all there but they missed a few handy frees and a couple of other chances went abegging. It was 2-9 to 1-3 with ten minutes left and Colaiste Choilm could very easily have had 2-6 on the board at that stage. Irrespective of speculation about what Colaiste Mhuire might have been able to do in this situation, Colaiste Choilm could have been way more competitive in the closing quarter.

There was still plenty of positives for them to take from it. It was an Leinster “A” football final and that is a very significant achievement for the Tullamore school. The school reached the senior “A” final this year, losing out to Naas CBS and having spent much of their time in “B” ranks over the decades, any progress in the top flight is to be welcomed with smiling faces. They took Naas's scalp in the semi-final, beat other strong schools on the way and it will be very interesting to watch the development and growth of these young players over the coming five-six years.

They had a great spread of players from the footballing strongholds in the vicinity of Tullamore with Tullamore, Ballinamere-Durrow, Shamrocks, Na Fianna and St Vincent's all amply represented while Kilcormac-Killoughey and Rhode Og also had players here.

Some of these young players have had extremely busy schedules in the past week or so. Colaiste Choilm were resoundingly beaten by an exceptional St Kieran's of Kilkenny in the First Year “A” hurling quarter-final last Friday morning. A few of them also played for the Offaly U-14 hurling development squads in games on Saturday and some played for Colaiste Choilm in an All-Ireland basketball semi-final loss on Monday.

There is merit in young people trying everything and if ever you are to overload with games, that is the age to do it, but it is a lot of activity. It would be an absolute tragedy if any of these young players burnt out young or got fed up of it because they are playing too much. It will be up to the adults involved and their coaches to take wise decisions – they should combine football and hurling until minor level but even at this young age, the players need to mind their load and bodies, to realise that you can't do everything.

It was certainly too much of a schedule for this final. Some Colaiste Choilm players looked a bit tired, a couple actually looked a bit shattered and their energy levels were off where they needed to be at the start. By the time, they warmed into it and really got going, the game was more or less gone from them – between hurling, basketball and football, this was their fourth game in five days and as a unit, Colaiste Choilm did not move as freely as they would have liked.

Having said that, these are all first world problems and we shouldn't be putting too much emphasis on First Year competitions. It is all about experience and learning and the results are not the most important thing. It is great to be reaching a final in the highest grade and to be very competitive at this level. They were more competitive here than the final scoreline suggests, their ball retention was very good at times and they will get better over the coming years.

Even if everything went well for them, if all the ducks lined up perfectly, Colaiste Mhuire may have proven too strong here. It started in a torrential downpour as Sam Heffernan got the opening point from a free for Colaiste Choilm but the winners had 1-4 on the board by the time Eoin Byrne got their next point in the 14^th minute. The goal was an unfortunate one as Josh Scahill's free dropped in to the net in the eight minute. Byrne's point could have been a goal – the Ballinamere club man showed some delightful silky skill and opted to tap over the bar when he got in on goals.

Colaiste Choilm were crying out for a goal at that stage and Colaiste Mhuire added 1-2 for a 2-6 to 0-2 half time lead, the goal a super strike from Peadar Baird that no goalkeeper could have saved in the 18^th minute.

Colaiste Choilm were better in the second half as players such as Conall Minnock and Keith O'Rourke got going and began to get on the ball more. Jayden Daly got in for a 34^th minute goal after a Billy Heffernan pass to make it 2-7 to 1-2 but Colaiste Mhuire responded perfectlty with the next two points from Michael Brennan and Luke Fitzsimons.

Colaiste Choilm were the better team from the 37^th to the 52^nd minute. They showed heart and character, dominating play and driving at their opponents. They could have got back into it in this period and it was here that Colaiste Choilm have the big lessons to take on board about keeping the score board ticking over. Jayden Daly dropped a free short while Aaron Mangan and Conall Minnock were off target with other ones. The hard working Sam Heffernan was unlucky to hit the crossbar and all these misses meant that Colaiste Mhuire were able to ease home with more comfort than they should have.

Josh Scahill got a free and Tristan Duncan's 54^th minute goal made it 3-10 to 1-3. Full marks to Colaiste Choilm for keeping fighting when the game couldn't be rescued. Aaron Mangan's very well taken penalty goal, awarded for a foul on impressive sub Evan Doran, was cancelled out by Oliver Leech while Doran got a fine injury time consolation goal for Colaiste Choilm.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Jamie Leech (Colaiste Mhuire): Jamie Leech had a very good game in the Colaiste Mhuire attack. He got three points, one from play, and contributed very well in open play with a lot of ball that he used well going through his hands. Shay Leavy, Scott Farrelly, Oliver Keane, Michael Brennan, Luke Fitzsimons and Josh Scahill were among the many Colaiste Mhuire players to catch the eye.

It was a mixed bag for Colaiste Choilm with Jake Conlon, Patrick Og Moore and Darragh Staunton having good moments in a very honest defence. Tim Cunningham really helped steady the Colaiste Choilm ship when introduced after 12 minutes, Conall Minnock and Keith O'Rourke found form in the second half while sub Evan Doran also did well.

THE SCORERS

Colaiste Mhuire: Oliver Keane 1-2 (1f and 1 '45'), Tristan Duncan and Josh Scahill (goal from a free) 1-1 each, Jamie Leech 0-3 (2f), Peadar Baird 1-0, Michael Brennan, Luke Fitzsimons and Cathal Kilmurray 0-1 each.

Colaiste Choilm: Evan Doran 1-1, Jayden Daly and Aaron Mangan (penalty) 1-0 each, Sam Heffernan (f) and Eoin Byrne 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

COLAISTE CHOILM, TULLAMORE: Oisin Rigney (Kilcormac-Killoughey); Daragh Staunton (Na Fianna), Jake Conlon (Tullamore), Harry Dunne (St Vincent's); Fionn Daly-Kane (Tullamore), Patrick Og Moore (Rhode Og), Fionnan Connolly (Na Fianna); Conall Minnock (Shamrocks), Aaron Mangan (St Vincent's); Tomas Cassidy (St Vincent's), Keith O'Rourke (Shamrocks), Sam Heffernan (Tullamore); Billy Heffernan (Ballinamere), Jayden Daly (Tullamore), Eoin Byrne (Ballinamere-Durrow). Subs – Tim Cunningham (Tullamore) for Daly-Kane (12m), Evan Doran (Ballinamere-Durrow) for Cassidy (36m), Darragh Galvin (Ballinamere-Durrow) for Dunne (41m), Daniel Conway (Ballinamere-Durrow) for Byrne (49m), David O'Shea (Shamrocks) for Daly (54m), Rory Farrell (St Vincent's) for Og Moore (54m), Jack Brennan (Ballinamere-Durrow) for Conlon (54m), Tom Lynch (Tullamore) for Connolly (59m), Sean Finlay-Scanlon (Ballinamere-Durrow) for Billy Heffernan (59m).

COLAISTE MHUIRE, MULLINGAR: Tom McCaul; Killian Raleigh, Shay Leavy, Sean O'Connell; Aaron Wallace, Scott Farrelly, Tom Leech; Oliver Keane, Michael Brennan; Jamie Leech, Luke Fitzsimons, Tristan Duncan; Cathal Kilmurray, Josh Scahill, Peadar Baird. Subs – Conor Glynn for Leech (41m), Aidan Tuite for Baird (58m), Darragh Daly for Duncan (58m), Sean Higgins for Wallace (60m).

Referee – Jamie McDonald (Laois).

REFEREE WATCH

Jamie McDonald had a very good game and neither side could have issues with his handling of it.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Josh Scahill's opening goal dealt a serious blow to Colaiste Choilm and they were chasing their tails from here on.

VENUE WATCH

Full marks to the O'Connor Park workers for treating this fixture with the respect it deserved. The score board was in operation, they made team announcements, played the national anthem and the pitch held up as well as could be expected in heavy rain – the rain did create some surface water on the pitch. The only big black mark was that there was no umpires at the start and that did not look well. It was a wet day but this was too big a game for that. After a few minutes, one person stood in at each goal, which was again short of what is required.

Again, it is a very first world problem but presentation of games is important and one of the Colaiste Choilm subs wore a white togs rather than the school blue.

STATISTICS

Wides: Colaiste Choilm – 5 (1 in first half); Colaiste Mhuire - 8 (3 in first half).

Yellow cards: 0

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0