Colleges Hurling- Late Dublin South goal denies St Kieran's

St. Kieran’s appeared to be in the driving seat eight minutes into the second half when they moved into a 1-10 to 0-6 lead against Dublin South Schools in the Leinster Senior Colleges A Hurling Semi-Final in Rathenska today. The Kilkenny school were playing with plenty of confidence, but they struggled for scores thereafter.

Kieran’s still led by two points four minutes into injury time, but such was the pressure coming from their opponents that extra time seemed very likely. As it turned out extra time was not needed, as six minutes into injury time substitute Joey Dunne sent a speculative shot from fifty metres out on the wing towards the Kieran’s goal.

Unfortunately, the delivery deceived Kieran’s goalie Alan Dunphy with the ball ending up in the back of the net. That goal sent the Dublin side into the Leinster Final where Good Counsel will provide the opposition. 

The New Ross college had earlier defeated Kilkenny CBS in the other semi-final, but with South Dublin Schools unable to play beyond the Leinster campaign, Kieran’s and Kilkenny CBS will now have to play-off for a place in the All-Ireland Quarter Finals.

Saturday 12th February is a likely date for that game as the All-Ireland Quarter Finals are scheduled for Saturday 19th February.

Dublin South Schools faced the breeze in the opening half and their playing of midfielder Sean O’Brien as a spare defender was, as it turned out, a match-winning move. Despite being favoured by the breeze it took Kieran’s seven minutes to get their first score, a pointed free from Harry Shine.

Helped by the extra defender the winners were comfortable handling attacks from their opponents. Sean O’Brien mopped up some poorly hit deliveries from Kieran’s and the Dublin teams off the shoulder passing and movement was superb. 

With Dublin South Schools withdrawing a midfielder to bolster their defence, it meant that Kieran’s also had a spare defender.

That helped the Kilkenny school to a degree, they did not use the extra defender as effectively as their opponents. Wing forwards Jack Burke and James O’Brien were causing endless problems for Kieran’s and both landed points to stay in touch with their opponents.

A brace of points from Luke Connellan and two more from a Harry Shine free and Alex Sheridan saw Kieran’s ahead 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval. Three minutes into the second half a speculative shot from Harry Shine - he may have been going for a point – was put into his own net by the winner’s goalie Fionn Boyd. 

James O’Brien replied for the Dublin side with a pointed free and when Kieran’s scored three unanswered points through Alex Sheridan, Harry Shine (free) and Joe Fitzpatrick, those scores edged the Kilkenny college ahead by seven points. But Kieran’s could not push forward. In fact, for the remaining 26 minutes of the game they could only add three points to their tally.

Kieran’s still led by three points with eight minutes of normal time remaining and defensively they were looking solid with Joe Fitzpatrick, Naoise Dempsey and Jack Butler playing well. But the closer the game came to a conclusion, the more the Dublin side were dominating. 

Full-forward Niall Fitzgibbon finally scored the goal that the Dublin South Schools had been threatening for some time. It looked as if the referee was going to award a close-in free to the Dublin side, but he allowed the play to continue a little longer and opportunist full-forward Niall Fitzgibbon tapped the sliothar into the Kieran’s net.

The excellent James O’Brien then pointed a brace of frees to leave the minimum between the sides. 

Kieran’s worked hard to stem the Dublin side’s efforts but the winners ability to turn over possession was a real strength of their game.

Extra time loomed when substitute Liam Mostyn tied the game and Kieran’s would gladly have taken a draw at that stage. But somehow referee Patrick Phelan from Laois found another two minutes. Kieran’s also had a number of players impacted by cramp at that stage and that was also a concern.

When another substitute Joey Dunne gained possession out on the wing his speculative shot appeared to be well under control by the Kieran’s goalie Alan Dunphy, but to the delight of the Dublin players and officials the ball ended up in the back of the net. In fairness to Dunphy he may have been blinded by the high sun, but the score was enough to see South Dublin Schools into the Leinster Final.

Teams and Scorers

Dublin South Schools- James O’Brien (0-6, 0-5 frees); Niall Fitzgibbon (1-2, 0-1 free); Joey Dunne (1-1); Jack Burke (0-2); Oisin Byrne and Liam Mostyn (0-1 each).

St. Kieran’s - Harry Shine (1-6, 0-4 frees). Luke Connellan (0-3); Alex Sheridan (0-2); Joe Fitzpatrick and Anthony Ireland-Wall (0-1). 

Dublin South Schools- Fionn Boyd, Barry McGuire, Darragh Geraghty, Conor Cleary, Eoin Keyes, Scott McCormack, David Dungan, Liam Garrigan, Sean O’Brien, Jack Burke, Oisin Byrne, James O’Brien, Leon Kennedy, Niall Fitzgibbon, Sean Purcell.

Subs – Hugh Cuffe, Joey Dunne and Liam Mostyn.

St. Kieran’s- Alan Dunphy, Jack Butler, Adam O’Connor, Sean Moore, Padraig Lennon, Joe Fitzpatrick, Naoise Dempsey, James Carroll, Killian Doyle, Ted Dunne, Conor Cody, Ben Whitty, Harry Shine, Luke Connellan, Alex Sheridan.

Subs – Richie McEvoy, Anthony Ireland-Wall, Nick Doheny and Padraig Naddy.

Referee – Patrick Phelan (Laois).