Offaly Combined Schools suffer soul searching defeat against talented Mullingar outfit

OFFALY Combined Schools crashed out of the Corn Uí Dhúill Leinster Colleges Senior Hurling Championship on Thursday afternoon in Castlepollard and they did so in a fashion that will cause plenty of soul-searching around the county in the coming weeks.

Leinster Colleges Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final.

Coláiste Mhuire Mullingar 1-16

Offaly Combined Schools 1-12

Readers shouldn’t be fooled by the fact that the winning side was from Mullingar. This is an immensely talented Coláiste Mhuire group that came agonisingly close to beating eventual champions Kilkenny CBS in a Leinster Junior A semi-final last year and they picked up a knockout win over a proven force in the heart of Dublin hurling country in Coláiste Eoin to get here. This is a golden generation of players for the county of Westmeath and the local clubs, and they will be real contenders when the semi-finals roll around.

That being said, the final margin probably flattered the Offaly Schools team, and the fact that this game had to be played on the same week that Coláiste Choilm, Gallen Community School and St. Brendan’s all played knockout championship matches (Gallen played knockout senior football and hurling this week with their players involved in both) should be a sign that regardless of how attractive this concept might be, there isn’t room for it in the calendar and perhaps the focus should shift towards maximising the chances of the individual schools.

Rory Dunican’s shoulder injury which will presumably keep him out of North Leinster finals in both codes for Gallen is certainly a warning sign, albeit such an injury could happen very easily in training and may just be bad luck.

On the game itself, there was no bad luck – only one team that hurled way better. In the first half, there was a gulf in quality. Seán Carey shot two excellent points from play but Offaly had just seven shots on goal overall, hitting six. Coláiste Mhuire hit 1-9 and left plenty more behind them, as they simply devoured Offaly in the breaking ball battle. Darragh Kenny gave a masterclass in the half-back line, Will Scahill (widely considered one of the brightest young football prospects in Leinster) was very strong at six and the midfield pairing of Seán Hayes and Conor Cleary were rampant.

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The Mullingar side hammered in their goal through 16-year-old Conor Williams but they left a lot of good scoring chances behind them as well, including two frees that Kian Loughlin would normally pop over at his ease.

Trailing by 1-9 to 0-6 at half time, tactical changes did improve things for Offaly in the second half. Jack Dunican came off the bench to offer a good puckout target in the half-forward line, James O’Sullivan came into the game well in the half-back line after dropping back and Andrew Hogan continued to dominate in a role that was like a sweeping centre back, facilitated by Conor Williams (Mullingar CBS full-forward) pulling out to midfield and being followed by Joey McLoughney.

That said, the scores never flowed at any great rate. Seán Carey fired over some majestic individual strikes and Andrew Hogan came forward to blast a goal from a free, but there was never any real momentum and in Offaly’s desperation to chase the game, they conceded frees that Darragh Kenny and Williams bombed over the bar from several parts of the pitch.

A couple of high deliveries led to nervous moments for the large Coláiste Mhuire crowd that made the short trip to the North Westmeath venue, but they were half-goal chances that arose, rather than necessarily being created. One effort from Carey that was blocked was as good as it got outside of that, as the Coláiste Mhuire defence held firm to secure a famous and fully-deserved win, one which means their first ever campaign in Leinster A hurling will end in at worst, a semi-final defeat. More than that is very much on the table too.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Darragh Kenny (Coláiste Mhuire): Kenny was utterly imperious in the half-back line, giving a performance for the ages. He read the play brilliantly, swept up the danger and was impeccable in his use of the ball, picking out forwards with wonderful deliveries. Conor Williams is a prodigious 16-year-old who has a huge future in the game while Conor Cleary and Finn Higgins also impressed, but it was impossible to look past Kenny.

On the Offaly side, Andrew Hogan was a tower of strength at centre back, Eamon Maher didn’t put a foot wrong, Seán Carey tried to carry the scoring load and Jack Dunican really added something when he came into the team, but that wasn’t enough to keep them competitive.

THE SCORERS

Coláiste Mhuire CS: Conor Williams 1-8 (5f and two 65s), Kian Loughlin 0-3 (2f), Darragh Kenny (f), Seán Hayes, Conor Cleary, Finn Higgins, Pádraig Monaghan 0-1 each.

Offaly Combined Schools: Seán Carey 0-6, Odhrán Fletcher 0-5 (3f), Andrew Hogan 1-1f

THE TEAMS

COLÁISTE MHUIRE: Cathal Óg Fagan; Seán Byrne, Niall Brady, Aaron Flanagan; Mikey Weir, Will Scahill, Darragh Kenny; Seán Hayes, Conor Cleary; Finn Higgins, Kian Loughlin, Críostóir Ormsby; Pádraig Monaghan, Conor Williams, Eoin Meehan.

OFFALY COMBINED SCHOOLS: Aodhán Carrol (Cistercian College, Roscrea); Oisín Carroll (Cistercian), Joey McLoughney (St. Brendan’s CS Birr), Rory Dunican (Gallen CS, Ferbane); Eamonn Maher (Gallen CS), Andrew Hogan (St. Brendan’s), Michael Dooley (St. Brendan’s); James O’Sullivan (Cistercian), Conor Egan (Killina Presentation Secondary School); Seán Carey (St. Brendan’s), Odhrán Fletcher (Cistercian), Ruairc Fay (Cistercian); Donal Dooley (Coláiste Choilm, Tullamore), James Hennessy (Coláiste Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac), MacDara Mitchell (Killina). Subs – Conor Berry (Coláiste Choilm) for Dunican (22m, inj), Jack Dunican (Coláiste Naomh Cormac) for Fay (28m), Noel Standish (St. Brendan’s) for D Dooley (45m) .

Referee – Peter O’Halloran (Drumconrath, Meath).

REFEREE WATCH

The Offaly sideline seemed unhappy with the referee at many stages in the second half but quite frankly it was hard to see why. A couple of marginal calls perhaps, but nothing egregious, probably as many that went against Coláiste Mhuire as went against Offaly and certainly nothing that warranted such an obvious loss of composure, or the obvious tension between the two management teams at the end of the game.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

It’s hard to tell how significant one missed chance so early in the game might have been, but when Offaly were struggling to compete early on, Conor Egan’s run and handpass to MacDara Mitchell that didn’t quite stick seemed consequential. Against a Coláiste Mhuire side that was growing in confidence with every breaking ball win, that could have opened the door for Offaly to take the wind out of their sails and settle into the game.

VENUE WATCH

It would have been easy to look at a map and wonder if Coláiste Mhuire were trying to maximise Offaly’s travel time when they picked Castlepollard as the venue, but the pitch was absolutely pristine, incredibly so for the time of year. The grass was cut, the ground was firm, and it facilitated a proper hurling match.

WHAT'S NEXT

Coláiste Mhuire go into the semi-finals against Kilkenny CBS. Offaly must reflect on a disappointing year as a whole and what it says about the combined schools project.

STATISTICS

Wides: Coláiste Mhuire CS – 11 (6 in first half); Offaly Combined Schools – 5 (1 in first half).

Yellow cards: 1 (Michael Dooley, Offaly, 52m).

Red cards: 0