Moate CS come from behind to edge past Clane

Brother Bosco Cup – Leinster Colleges Senior “A” Football Preliminary Quarter-Final

Moate CS 0-10

Scoil Mhuire, Clane 0-9

THE Football Review Committee (FRC) recruited some of the most intelligent and successful figures from the sport of gaelic football and engaged in a nationwide research and study programme to come up with new enhancements to the rules of gaelic football, changes which were emphatically voted through at the recent Special Congress.

These changes were made in order to re-introduce much more kicking to the sport, to increase the amount of contests for possession, and to bring more drama and excitement to the sport that we all love.

If Jim Gavin, James Horan, Eamon Fitzmaurice or any of the others were on hand to watch last Thursday’s Leinster senior schools contest in Moate Community School, they would have realised that there was no need for arcs, hooters, goalkeeping restrictions, or anything else. Simply play games in utterly miserable wind and rain and let 30-something committed, athletic young players lay their hearts and souls on the line, and what you’ll get will make for incredible viewing. If you can forget about being drenched, of course.

Hindsight is always 20:20 in these situations and the Moate CS management and players will take immense satisfaction from outscoring their opponents by 0-4 to no score in the least 20 minutes, from their incredible composure on the ball when the pressure was greatest, and indeed from the fact that Scoil Mhuire arguably had the brightest individual stars in midfielder Daniel Colbert and wing back Mick O’Toole, the Moate team was much more balanced, with no obvious weak links.

Niall Hagan and Darragh Madden kicked all ten scores between them but alongside them, Darragh Deegan won a couple of tough possessions in between two defenders and earned two frees that were converted, while Conor Daly and Eoin McCormack were hugely industrious, making ground in tough conditions.

If there was a Moate CS-centred highlight reel, then many of the biggest moments would be some of James Mitchell’s incredible catches at midfield, on a day when high fielding should have been all but impossible.

Further back down the field, Jack Ryan played a superb game in nightmare conditions for a goalkeeper, and while Cormac Murphy lived on the edge in terms of his marking style, he was the source of a lot of good turnover wins, with the Offaly duo of Adam Fox and Séan Óg Foley also very solid on the ball, initiating attacks and still doing their defensive work.

While Moate had an excellent day defensively against a talented Scoil Mhuire inside forward line, they did allow the trio to all get off the mark in the first half, with O’Toole adding two incredible scores from distance. Around 15 minutes were gone when the wind really started to whip up, which was to the away side’s advantage as they had the aid of that breeze for the only period when it really favoured anyone, culminating in Colbert’s shot from just inside his own half that bounced once and went over the bar.

Still Moate stayed in the game however, with Hagan kicking frees and Darragh Madden a constant threat from open play.

The pitch deteriorated from soft to soaked over the course of the first half, leading to referee Enda Kenny saying to both managers at the break that he was going to start the second half, but that there was no guarantee he would finish it, and with Scoil Mhuire very narrowly in front, 0-6 to 0-5, it was hard to say which side would have been more hopeful of an abandonment from the Ballinagore official.

Ten minutes into the second half, Josh Gannon had just struck two points that would illuminate Croke Park in July, never mind Moate in a December squall, and if James Moore’s shot for goal hadn’t been blocked, Scoil Mhuire would have been in a commanding position, even more than they were at 0-9 to 0-6 ahead on a day when scores weren’t coming easy.

Pressure began to mount however, as Moate sensed that long ball football was their best option. Fox, Foley, Cian Whitney and Mitchell all handled a lot of ball in the middle and they sent any number of testers into the Scoil Mhuire square, most of which were brilliantly handled by Paddy Connolly, who had now dropped back to cover off that threat.

Still Hagan and Madden kicked the points that eliminated the gap, with Hagan unlucky not to score a fisted goal on a high ball, only for Clane goalkeeper Evan Dunne to recover and clear the ball off the line.

The lead point didn’t come easily however and there were palpitations among Moate supporters when in the last minute of normal time, Josh Gannon sent a '45' crashing off the upright above Jack Ryan’s goal.

The break was kind however in that Clane won it but couldn’t get back into a scoring position, and a minute later, Adam Fox showed impeccable composure at the back, Eoin McCormack made great ground with his run forward, and Madden duly delivered the finish that the move deserved, clinching the school’s place in the last eight of the championship as a result.

In footballing terms, tougher tests probably lie ahead. In terms of character, spirit and battling qualities however, it’s unlikely that any team will need to dig any deeper than the side coached by Niall Daly and Peter Tormey did last Thursday.

SCORERS

Moate CS: N Hagan 0-6 (0-4f, 0-1m), D Madden 0-4 (0-1f).

Scoil Mhuire, Clane: M O’Toole 0-2 (0-1f), A Fitzpatrick 0-2, J Gannon 0-2, B Kehoe 0-1, E Lyons 0-1m, D Colbert 0-1.

TEAMS

MOATE CS: Jack Ryan (Doon); Adam Fox (Tubber), Cormac Murphy (Caulry), Tadhg Heavin (Moate); Eoin McCormack (Caulry), Cian Whitney (Moate), Seán Óg Foley (Doon); James Mitchell (Moate), Enda McLoughlin (Tubber); Conor Daly (Ballycumber), Darragh Madden (Moate), Brian Doyle (Caulry); Niall Hagan (Moate), Ben Martin (Maryland), Darragh Deegan (Rosemount). SCOIL MHUIRE, CLANE: Evan Dunne; James O’Donoghue, Calum O’Reilly, Seán McGinn; Niall Keane, Paddy Connolly, Mick O’Toole; Daniel Colbert, Liam Blake; Josh Gannon, James Moore, Aidan Maddock; Eoghan Lyons, Adam Fitzpatrick, Ben Kehoe. Subs: Tadhg O’Donoghue for Kehoe (43), Rob Lynch for Maddock (51), Seán McLoughlin for Moore (52), Adam Millea for O’Reilly (57).

REFEREE: Enda Kenny.

IN BRIEF

What’s Next

The quarter-finals are an open draw, with Naas CBS, Coláiste Eoin (Dublin), Coláiste Choilm (Tullamore), Árdscoil na Tríonaide (Athy) and championship favourites Coláiste Mhuire of Mullingar also through to the last eight alongside Moate CS. They will be joined by the winner of the grouped teams section (either Laois Schools or Maynooth Educational Campus) and the winner of Marist College’s fixture in Navan against St Pat’s.

Man Of The Match

Moate had the more balanced team, but it would be churlish to look beyond Clane midfielder Daniel Colbert, who was strong, athletic, and is a seriously talented footballer to boot.