No complaints as Colaiste Choilm make bitterly disappointing exit

COLAISTE Choilm, Tullamore's dreams of Leinster colleges senior football glory ended in a bitterly disappointing fashion when they went out with a whimper against Maynooth Education Campus in the quarter-final at Daingean on Saturday afternoon.

Leinster Colleges Senior Football Championship quarter-final

Maynooth Education Campus 1-4

Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore 0-2

The 1-4 to 0-2 final scoreline says a lot about a dour, very defensive sort of game, played in difficult underfoot conditions. From a Colaiste Choilm a viewpoint, the basic statistics are a bitter pill to swallow: Two points, both from Cillian Bourke frees and both in the first half, is a fairly shocking return and you could not win any game with it.

Maynooth were not much better, scoring 1-2 of their 1-4 in the closing eight minutes and it did make for difficult viewing. It was not quite as bad as the scoreline suggests, particularly in the first half, but there was very little in the way of open, penetrating, attacking football.

It was largely a self inflicted defeat for Colaiste Choilm and they have only themselves to blame. They had long spells at the start of each half when they practically owned the ball but missed too much while they struggled woefully to break down Maynooth's very efficient defensive set-up. In the second half, their error count crept too high as they made unforced mistakes, carried the ball into traffic and were overturned a bit often.

It all meant that Maynooth were worthy winners but anyone watching from their semi-final opponents, Colaiste Mhuire of Mullingar will be quite hopeful of their prospects.

It was one of those days for Colaistre Choilm, one where they played with great heart and clearly wanted it but not much went right for them in an attacking manner.

They were completely dominant in the opening quarter, laying siege to the Maynooth goal but they didn't score. They had four wides and missed frees and chances that came back to haunt them. The writing was on the wall at an early stage and it was clear that they would have to scrape it.

Maynooth didn't have an attack until the seventh minute but should have scored two goals in the first half. Liam Jennings had the worse miss, tapping wide from a couple of metres with the goal gaping in front of him in the 14^th minute. Finn Conheady gave them the lead in the 16^th minute and William Cronly got back on his line to deny Jennings a 20^th minute goal.

At the other end, Colaiste Choilm had their own gilt edged chance when Paddy Burns was sent through on goal in the 22^nd minute, he looked a cast iron certainty to goal but Josh Flood made the save. Two excellent Cillian Bourke frees gave Colaiste Choilm a 0-2 to 0-1 lead.

There had been some decent football played in the first half, despite the score, but the quality nose-dived on resumption. Again Colaiste Choilm had plenty of ball but didn't make it count. Charlie Burns was wide with a scoreable free and Davin Keegan's shot at point dropped short onto the cross bar.

As it went into the closing quarter, it was clear that Colaiste Choilm were in bother. A two point lead could have given them the springboard for victory but instead Maynooth's confidence grew as they bottled up the Offaly students while mistakes were made. Josh Flood equalised from a 47^th minute free after Colaiste Choilm gave the ball away. He dropped one just short moments later after Patrick Kenna was overturned and Liam Jennings slotted over the lead point in the 52^nd minute when goalkeeper Ciaran Owens handled on the ground while gathering possession.

Maynooth scented blood and Jennings stepped forward. He put them two clear with four minutes left and then got the match clinching goal in the 57^th minute after more poor Tullamore play.

It left Colaiste Choilm needing a miracle and having failed to break down the Maynooth defence for almost an hour, it was unlikely to happen in the last three minutes plus. Colaiste Choilm had been patient in their build up for much of it, retaining possession well but not breaking the tackle or line often enough. As it wore on, however, a plan B was required and they never really went for this by kicking in more direct ball. With Dara Bates and Eoin Dunne well able to win ball at midfield, there was a case for pushing Cillian Bourke into the edge of the square in the last ten minutes, where he could have caused havoc if he got his hands on the ball but they didn't do that and made a very tame exit.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Liam Jennings (Maynooth Education Campus): Liam Jennings was a match winner for Maynooth. He scored 1-2, 1-1 from play but contributed much more than that. Technically a very good footballer, he was clever on the ball and used it well.

Colaiste Choilm had players who played well. Tadgh Kelly was very solid in the defence – a great man to do his defensive job, he was eager to get on the ball and get forward here. Brian Guinan was also very prominent, getting on a lot of ball, driving forward and doing the simple thing well. Both these players did make mistakes and were overturned but the defence was certainly not the reason they lost.

Maynooth will be happy with the way they curbed the influence of Cillian Bourke but no blame lies with him for this defeat. He was super at times when he got into open ground and he gave it everything. It was a bleak day for the Colaiste Choilm attack. Paddy Burns was their best forward, winning most of the ball that came his way, though the end result wasn't there. Aaron Rattigan clearly wanted it but could only rarely get free and Eoin Rouse was very good on the ball at times but as a unit, the way Colaiste Choilm played football was not conducive to winning a game – much of the credit for this does go to Maynooth who played to their strengths, played to a system and stuck with it.

THE SCORERS

Maynooth Education Campus: Liam Jennings 1-2 (1f), Josh Flood (f) and Finn Conheady 0-1 each.

Colaiste Choilm: Cillian Bourke 0-2 (2f).

THE TEAMS

COLAISTE CHOILM, TULLAMORE: Ciaran Owens; William Cronly, Tadgh Kelly, Jack Bracken; Jack Maher, Patrick Kenna, Brian Guinan; Dara Bates, Eoin Dunne; Eoin Rouse, Cillian Bourke, Davin Keegan; Paddy Burns, Charlie Burns, Aaron Rattigan. Subs – Shane Horkan for Cronly (HT), Mark Holton for Charlie Burns (42m), Odhran Briody for Keegan (47m).

MAYNOOTH EDUCATION CAMPUS: Josh Flood; Sean Miley, Finn Dowling, Tom Power; Aaron Larkin, Michael Chambers, Oisin O'Giollan; Oran Beirne, Darragh Devine; Aaron Mahoney, Paul O'Dea, Ciaran Dunne; Paddy Ryan, Finn Conheady, Liam Jennings. Subs – Sean O'Donnell for Conheady (47m),

Referee – Enda Kelly (Westmeath).

REFEREE WATCH

Enda Kelly was excellent for most of the match with no issues whatsoever. There were a couple of harsh or debatable decisions late on. Aaron Rattigan was fortunate to get a yellow rather than a black in the 44^th minute after pulling down Sean Miley. The hard working Rattigan had been definitely fouled before that and his tackle was out of frustration – in fairness to the referee, he was just on the wrong side of that and would not have seen it.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Liam Jennings' free to give Maynooth the lead with eight minutes left was a big moment. It sort of summed up Colaiste Choilm's day and Maynooth pushed on for the win.

VENUE WATCH

Full marks to Daingean for stepping in when O'Connor Park was unavailable. They have impressive grounds and had plenty of stewards on hand. Their pitch is exposed and with no covered accommodation for spectators but fortunately the rain stayed off for the most part. It was all about getting the game played and Daingean looked after it very well. Their pitch had a good coat of grass and it looked a fraction long in some places but with the recent weather, there was absolutely no chance of getting a mower near it – the pitch was solid and players were well able to run on it.

WHAT'S NEXT

Maynooth Education Campus go into the semi-finals next week against Colaiste Mhuire, Mullingar.

STATISTICS

Wides: Colaiste Choilm – 6 (4 in first half); Maynooth Education Campus - 4 (3 in first half).

Yellow cards: Colaiste Choilm – 1 (Aaron Rattigan); Maynooth – 1 (Ciaran Dunne).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0