Strong finishing Colaiste Choilm leave plenty to work on

THE win was very much the bottom line but Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore will be under no illusions about the body of work they have to do in the coming weeks after getting the better of St Joseph's of Rochfortbridge in the first round of the Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championship on Tuesday afternoon.

Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championship first round

Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore 2-12

St Joseph's, Rochfortbridge 1-5

Played in Rochfortbridge, Colaiste Choilm were very much flattered by their winning margin and this game was a lot closer than the final scoreline suggests. They will, however, be delighted not to mention relieved to have got the result and it sets them up nicely – both sides have to play Patrician of Newbridge in the three team group and with two qualifying, Colaiste Choilm are in pole position.

They will expect to play better in the next round in three weeks time – they will be hoping to welcome back Offaly minor hurling star, the injured Dan Ravenhill at that stage. With the Offaly minor football and hurling championships concluding, they have been very restricted at their own training. The minor hurling final between Tullamore and Kilcormac-Killoughey takes place this Saturday and several of those players played here – Tullamore had a number including their county minor hurling stars Cillian Martin and Niall Furlong while K-K had one in Ter Guinan.

It would have been completely wrong if either club had attempted to stop their minors from playing this game but it is to their credit that they didn't and top marks to the players who certainly weren't holding anything back for Saturday's final. They all put in fair shifts and Colaiste Choilm would not have won this game without that.

Cillian Martin was called ashore after 44 minutes and others were pulled off late on. Martin had been pivotal for Colaiste Choilm in a very difficult first half, putting in serious hits and showing great work rate as well as getting a heavy belt to the ribs that needed treatment. Martin was crucial when Colaiste Choilm were struggling early on will have to learn to be a bit easier on himself in games. He has great physicality but tends to plough into contact and charge through people when there is a simpler ball to give, an easier way of doing things.

It wasn't a very good Colaiste Choilm performance and they were on dodgy ground inside the last ten minutes. They were just three points ahead, 0-10 to 1-4 with five minutes left and they were in severe peril of a devastating defeat. They finished strongly with the impressive Dan Bourke getting in for two goals while Adam McCarthy (free) and their best forward Jack Connolly got points.

St Joseph' could only reply with one point, a free from Rhode man Ross Kellaghan deep in injury time and their heads had dropped after Bourke got his first goal in the 55th minute – blasting a loose ball to the net after St Joseph's hadn't cleared.

It ended up a good win but it was a disjointed, sloppy display by Colaiste Choilm. They worked very hard and there is no doubt that they were the better team but their error count was way too high. They were a bit careless, not fully tuned in at times and it meant that they were in danger of losing a game that they were expected to win well into the second half – St Joseph's were a limited side and found attacking football particularly hard, scoring only 1-1 from play.

In fairness to Colaiste Choilm, they came up against a very defensive side. St Joseph's pulled the bulk of their team back against a strong wind in the first half and they also had a lot of men back in the second half, when they really needed to be attacking the game.

They set out their stall on damage limitation and it almost worked for them – with Tullamore man and an Offaly senior football selector, John Rouse on the St Joseph's sideline, they were very much aware of the Colaiste Choilm strengths. Colaiste Choilm found it very hard to break them down and they were not help by a tendency to give a messy pass. Colaiste Choilm turned over a lot of ball but they also lost a lot and it was very much a mixed bag by them – Jack Daly, Ter Guinan, Cillian Martin, Cillian Bourke, Dan Bourke, Jack Connolly and Robbie Gallagher impressed for them.

Colaiste Choilm led by 0-3 to no score after six minutes but didn't build on that and were rocked with a St Joseph's goal against the run of play in the 13th minute. Croghan man Ben Kennedy applied a lovely finish but it was a poor goal from a Colaiste Choilm point of view as Jack Daly lost the ball and his cover didn't clear the lines – Kennedy was one of St Joseph's better players, threatening with some jinking, dancing runs but sometimes running into a body of players.

Without doing anything spectacular, Colaiste Choilm got the next four points in a row before Rory Cole's injury time free left St Joseph's trailing by 0-8 to 1-1 at half time.

Colaiste Choilm were not comfortable for a long time in the second half. They always had their noses in front but their lead was just three points on a couple of occasions and it looked like it could be one of those days for them. It could have been very tight. Liam Daly had kicked a long range free at the start of the half but it was called back as the referee spoke to a player inside. He kicked the second one wide. Sean Kavanagh had breathed deeply in the first half when he was almost caught with a long distance shot but he earned his spurs for Colaiste Choilm with a crucial 41st minute save from Rory Cole.

Colaiste Choilm should have got a goal themselves in the 46th minute after Robbie Gallagher picked out Niall Furlong, unmarked inside. Furlong, whose great work ethic ensured no St Joseph's half forwards were bounding up the field, tried to punch the ball over his head into the net – he should have caught the ball but may not have been aware of how free he was and the time he had.

Sub Winston Lambe-McHugh got a point that could have been a goal as St Joseph's got the gap down to three twice late on – Robbie Gallagher got a good point to put four in it the first time and then Dan Bourke's goal ended it as a contest as Colaiste Choilm finally opened up daylight.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Ter Guinan (Colaiste Choilm): Ter Guinan had an excellent game for Colaiste Choilm. He was the rock on which many St Joseph's attacks perished while he regularly strode upfield with the ball. He turned over a huge volume of ball, tackled tenaciously and while he also lost ball, he worked very hard to get it back. The Kilcormac-Killoughey man may be making a name as a hurler but is also a very fine footballer. Jack Connolly and Dan Bourke were also contenders.

THE SCORERS

Colaiste Choilm: Dan Bourke 2-0, Jack Connolly 0-5 (2f), Luke Bourke and Robbie Gallagher 0-2 ech, Ryan Conway, Niall Furlong and Adam McCarthy (f) 0-1 each.

St Joseph's: Ben Kennedy 1-0, Rory Cole (2f) and Ross Kellaghan (2f) 0-2 each, Winston Lambe-McHugh 0-1.

THE TEAMS

COLAISTE CHOILM, TULLAMORE: Sean Kavanagh; Brian Malone, Ben Heffernan, Ryan Conway; Jack Daly, Ter Guinan, Eoghain Spain; Cillian Martin, Cillian Bourke; Luke Bourke, Niall Furlong, Dan Bourke; Jack Connolly, Robbie Gallagher, Ryan Kenny. Subs – Patrick Kenna for Martin (44m), Adam McCarthy for Kenny (45m), Steven Doran for Furlong (57m), Gary Merriman for Cillian Bourke (59m), Cian Malone for Spain (59m).

ST JOSEPH'S, ROCHFORTBRIDGE: Stephen McNevin; Callum McKeogh, Matt Shaw, Kian Ennis; Tiernan Fallon, Charlie Johnson, Eoghan Kenny; Rory Cole, Liam Daly; Tiernan Jessop, Finian Carroll, Tadgh Kenny; Ben Kennedy, Ross Kellaghan, Charlie Cullen. Subs – Jack Lambe-McHugh for Carroll (47m), Winston Lambe-McHugh for Jessop (47m), Ger Cullen for Fallon (60m).

Referee – Owen Ganley (Meath).