St Brendan's CS squeeze past Colaiste Choilm after tight contest in Offaly derby

ST BRENDAN'S Community School, Birr advanced to the semi-finals of the Leinster Post Primary Schools Senior Hurling 'B' Championship with a hard fought win over fellow Offaly side Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore at The Faithful Fields on Friday.

Leinster Senior Hurling 'B' Quarter Final

ST BRENDAN'S CS, BIRR 0-18
COLAISTE CHOILM, TULLAMORE 0-16

It was a tight and tense game throughout but it lacked fluency and there were too many stoppages to allow the game to have any real flow. Both sides ended the game with 14 men but while it was hard fought, it was fairly fought with very little rancour between two totally committed teams.

St Brendan's led from the first minute and they never relinquished their lead. They enjoyed good spells in the first half and managed to open a five point lead on a couple of occasions before going in at the break ahead by 0-12 to 0-8.

Colaiste Choilm came back strongly in the second half and on four occasions they managed to get the lead down to a single point, but they could never get level and St Brendan's held their nerve to progress to the semi-finals.

The sides met earlier in the championship in the group stages in Crinkill and on that occasion Colaiste Choilm recorded a good win, but St Brendan's gave a much improved performance on this occasion and did enough to advance to the last four as they bid to make amends for last year when they lost the Leinster Final.

Both sides had a sprinkling of players from last year's successful Offaly minor hurling team and both knew there was a lot at stake here. That probably led to the tightness of the game as both were aware of the dangers the opposition posed. The game struggled to get into a rhythm and the majority of the scores came from placed balls.

St Brendan's had a greater spread of scorers with six different players scoring from play and half their scores from frees. In contrast Colaiste Choilm only managed three points from play and Daniel Bourke and Dan Ravenhill hit seven points each, only one of those from play. Indeed Colaiste Choilm failed to score from play in the last 43 minutes of the game and they also missed a couple of vital frees, which proved costly in a tight contest.

It was a game where you felt if either side had got a goal it would be decisive but neither goalkeeper was seriously tested. Charlie Hogan saved one effort from Daniel Bourke in the first half while Shane Connolly had St Brendan's best chance after the break but momentarily lost control of the ball in a good position and had to be content to take his point.

St Brendan's did struggle to win primary possession from their puck outs and they put themselves under pressure at times when failing to win these. Colaiste Choilm applied good pressure on those puck outs and it paid some dividends for them.

Caelum Larkin, Patrick Bergin and Ben Miller were strong in the St Brendan's defence, Eoin Burke had an outstanding game in the middle of the field and Cathal Robinson was the main scorer up front with Darragh Tierney and Shane Connolly lending good support.

David O'Rourke, Ben Heffernan and Cillian Bourke worked hard in the Colaiste Choilm defence, Dan Ravenhill put in a good shift at midfield and full forward, where he alternated with Daniel Bourke, who also had a strong hour.

Cathal Robinson put St Brendan's in front after a minute after good early pressure and Eoin Burke doubled the lead from a free. Daniel Bourke opened the Colaiste Choilm account from a free after three minutes but Eoin Burke pointed three more frees for the Birr side with Daniel Bourke replying from another free to leave it 0-5 to 0-2 after seven minutes.

Colaiste Choilm got their first score from play after eight minutes when Niall Furlong won a break from a puck out and hit a good score and when Cillian Martin intercepted a Birr puck out, he passed to Daniel Bourke for another point.

Cathal Robinson and Darragh Tierney replied with good points for St Brendan's and Eoin Burke pointed another free to leave it double scores 0-8 to 0-4. Thomas Grace and Cathal Robinson swopped points from play before Dan Ravenhill pointed a free from midfield but Eoin Burke replied with one for St Brendan's from his own 65m line.

Then five minutes before half time the linesman drew the referee's attention to an off the ball incident, which occurred while play was at the opposite end of the field, and after their discussion the referee showed a red card to Colaiste Choilm's Niall Furlong.

Cian Nolan and Marc Ryan landed long range points for St Brendan's with Daniel Bourke responding to each from a free to leave the half time score 0-12 to 0-8 in favour of St Brendan's.

Daniel Bourke added two more frees early in the second half, sandwiching one from Eoin Burke. St Brendan's put a good move together and Shane Connolly was almost through but had to settle for a point.

Then ten minutes into the second half St Brendan's were reduced to 14 men when Patrick Bergin picked up a second yellow card inside four minutes. Dan Ravenhill pointed two frees and a '65' to cut the gap to the minimum with 11 minutes left. Peter King responded with a Birr point. Dan Ravenhill twice more reduced the gap to one but Eoin Burke (free) and Cathal Robinson replied each time for St Brendan's. Deep in injury time Dan Ravenill pointed another '65' but from the puck out birr won a free and Eoin Burke hit his ninth point. Colaiste Choilm still had time for one last gasp attack but were unable to create an opening as St Brendan's stood firm and claimed victory.

MATCH ANALYSIS

THE TEAMS

ST BRENDAN'S CS: Charlie Hogan; Caelum Larkin, Patrick Bergin, Patrick Dooley; Cian Nolan, Ben Miller, Ajay Cleary; Steven Gilligan, Eoin Burke; Peter King, Darragh Tierney, Marc Ryan; Eoin Bailey O'Brien, Cathal Robinson, Shane Connolly. Subs. Andrew Hogan (for Eoin Bailey O'Brien, 34 mins), James O'Sullivan (for Peter King, 64 mins).

COLAISTE CHOILM; Kieran Coonan; William Grace, David O'Rourke, Jack Daly; Eoghan Spain, Ben Heffernan, Cillian Bourke; Dan Ravenhill, Niall Furlong; Steven Doran, Cillian Martin, Brian Guinan; Eoin Dunne, Daniel Bourke, Thomas Grace. Subs. Aaran Rattigan (for Eoghan Spain, half time), Killian Wynne (for Thomas Grace, 57 mins).

REFEREE; Seamie McDonald.

MAN OF THE MATCH

St Brendan's midfielder Eoin Burke gets the vote here. As well as shooting nine points from frees, he was constantly in the thick of the action around midfield and helping out his defence and all round he had a very solid game. Honourable mention also to Cathal Robinson who scored four points from play and on a day where scores were hard to come by from play, that was a fine tally.

REFEREE WATCH

Seamie McDonald did a good job. He was firm in his ruling and always in control and was consistent in his decisions pulling up a number of players for foul handpasses. He consulted well with his other officials and on the advice of his linesman issued a red card to Niall Furlong.

TALKING POINT

Three Offaly schools have made it to the last eight of this 'B' championship (Colaiste Naomh Cormac along with these two teams), as well as the combined schools team getting to the A semi-final, and that is all good for the future of hurling in the county. The more players that get to hurl at a higher level the more it will bring them on and improve their development.

WHAT’S NEXT

St Brendan's progress to the Leinster semi-finals while Colaiste Choilm will be left now to concentrate on the football championship.

VENUE WATCH

Considering the bad weather we had had all week, the pitch in The Faithful Fields stood up well for this contest. There was a sizeable crowd present for the game which, with the local rivalry, created a good atmosphere.

STATISTICS

Wides; St Brendan's CS 7 (5 in first half) Colaiste Choilm 8 (4 in first half)

Yellow Cards: St Brendan's CS 3 (Peter King, Patrick Bergin x 2), Colaiste Choilm 3 (Dan Ravenhill, Aaron Rattigan, Cillian Bourke).

Red Cards: St Brendan's CS 1 (Patrick Bergin) Colaiste Choilm 1 (Niall Furlong)

THE SCORERS

St Brendan's CS; Eoin Burke (0-9, all frees), Cathal Robinson (0-4), Darragh Tierney, Cian Nolan, Marc Ryan, Shane Connolly, Peter King (0-1 each).

Colaiste Choim; Daniel Bourke (0-7, 0-6 frees), Dan Ravenhill (0-7, 0-5 frees, 0-2 '65s), Niall Furlong and Thomas Grace (0-1 each).