Cistercian College survive in epic Offaly schools' derby shooutout

A LEINSTER Colleges Senior “B” Hurling Championship semi-final replay to set the pulse racing, to warm the heart ended with Cistercian College, Roscrea booking a final berth with Callan's Scoil Abhainn Ri on Friday afternoon.

Leinster Colleges Senior “B” Hurling Championship semi-final replay

Cistercian College, Roscrea 1-20

St Brendan's Community School, Birr 2-15

A derby between two Offaly schools, they served up an epic battle, full of twists and turns with the result right in doubt to the final whistle – Cistercian College is located just across the Offaly border in Ballyskenach, hence their participation in Leinster rather than Munster sporting fare.

Cistercian College were the better team over the course of the hour and deserve to be in the final but St Brendan's were hunting a match saving goal in injury time and could have snatched it with frees from Andrew Hogan and Sean Carey blocked by a desperate defence.

The Birr school should perhaps taken the tap over point with Hogan's 61^st minute pile driver and bring it back to a point. It was in the range where you could go for goal but the prospects of finding the net against a packed Roscrea defence were always in the long category and there was always likely to be a few more seconds played, perhaps giving them an opportunity of an equaliser and extra time.

The teams had drawn a week ago when extra time was not played because of a badly deteriorating Shinrone pitch. As a result this replay went to the 4G pitch at SETU Carlow, to make sure it was played, and the sides served up another tremendously entertaining affair. Cistercian College were clearly the better side for much of the first half and their 1-12 to 1-8 half time lead did not reflect how much better they were.

St Brendan's were magnificent in the third quarter, edging in front with eight minutes left and it looked like their momentum was unstoppable. The losers, however, could only manage one further point as Cistercian College did tremendously well to find a way to win it, scoring four points in a row in a fantastic sustained spell of pressure that left St Brendan's reeling and looking for a goal to survive.

St Brendan's have a proud hurling tradition, winning an All-Ireland “A” colleges title back in the 1980s but have been stuck in B hurling for some time. They have a fine young team, were well prepared and can be very proud of the way they have performed this year but it was a big, important win for the Roscrea school.

Traditionally a boarding school with a powerful rugby ethos, it is great to see Cistercian College making inroads in hurling. This has happened since they started catering for day pupils a short few years ago, attracting in the bulk of their day students from across south Offaly, as far as Kilcormac, and north Tipperary - the talent of their disposal is shown by the presence of county underage hurlers in their ranks.

The winners were backboned by players from Tipperary and Offaly with one player from Galway, Laois and Kilkenny featuring. They had a mix of day students and boarders and a couple of busloads of enthusiastic students supporting them added to the excitement and atmosphere at this.

Despite missing one of their best hurlers, emerging Kilcormac-Killoughey man Oisin Carroll through injury – he came on as a late sub -, Cistercian College were the better side by a distance for most of the first half. They played most of the hurling with St Brendan's struggling to get anything going and the game was really won and lost in this half.

Odhran Fletcher's accuracy from frees and assists from play were instrumental in Cistercian leading by 1-12 to 1-8 at the break and the gap would have been wider only for them falling asleep late on. Fletcher's goal was very fortunate as his sideline was deflected into the net by the other wise very solid Michael Dooley. It was just one of those goals that can happen but it helped Cistercian to a 1-3 to 0-1 lead after seven minutes with St Brendan's sucking air.

St Brendan's did find some form to bring it back to 1-5 to 0-6 after fourteen minutes but Cistercian played their best hurling in the next few minutes. They dominated all over and a 1-12 to 0-7 lead after 25 minutes was a fair reflection of the way it was going.

St Brendan's would have been in trouble had the gap stayed at this but a goal and a point gave them a lifeline. Ruari Pilkington nipped in for the goal when the rock solid Keelan Dunne made his only real mistake of the day, hitting a 50-50 clearance into traffic when goalkeeper Aodhan Carroll was available to his left. Andrew Hogan added a point and a four point deficit gave St Brendan's a huge boost heading to the dressing room.

St Brendan's were excellent early on in the second half, and for much of the first twenty minutes. Edward Carty got through for a 35^th minute goal after Andrew Hogan brilliantly won the ball out the field and in the blink of an eye, St Brendan's were level, 2-9 to 1-12. They should have been ahead as they left 1-2 behind them in this spell. The lively Carty was wide with one free, underhit another well within range and Ruari Pilkington looked certain to goal but Keelan Dunne got back to make a sensational block.

Now it was Cistercian's turn to feel the heat but they managed to halt St Brendan's momentum, finally breaking out for some relieving attacks. This yielded points from Tadgh McKeogh and impressive sub, Stephen Fogarty for a two point lead after 43 minutes.

St Brendan's goalkeeper Kieran Coughlan denied Oisin Farrell a 45^th minute goal, brilliantly saving but the deadly accurate Fletcher stroked over the '65' as Cistercian College grabbed a 1-16 2-10 lead with 46 minutes gone.

St Brendan's showed terrific character to turn the tide. Ruari Pilkington was unlucky when his neat strike at point hit the post but Edward Carty got two points, one free and Sean Carey (free) and Andrew Hogan, a truly inspirational score from outright, got St Brendan's 2-14 to 1-16 ahead with eight minutes left.

Just when it looked like they would lose, Cistercian somehow found another lease of life. Tadgh McKeogh, Jack Walsh, Dan Bowe and Odhran Fletcher all pointed in a relentless spell of pressure and a three point hap was a huge one with three minutes left. Sean Carey brought it down to two with two minutes left and there was ample time for St Brendan's but they couldn't manufacture a goal, while turning down points, as Cistercian held on for dear life.

SEE NEXT: Offaly hurlers searching for more green shoots against All-Ireland champions

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Tadgh McKeogh (Cistercian College, Roscrea): There is an obvious case to be made for going with Cistercian College's star forward Odhran Fletcher and they would not have won without the contribution of the emerging Offaly star. Fletcher's accuracy from placed balls, his cool demeanour, took the breath away while he scored two points from play and had a few assists as well.

The winning full forward Tadgh McKeogh gets the nod on this occasion. From the Ballina club in Tipperary, he provided a great target in close to goals, fought for everything and got four crucial points from play, three of them in the closing quarter when every score was so valuable.

Luke Murphy from Portumna, Shinrone's James O'Sullivan and Ruaric Fay were among the other Roscrea players who impressed on a day when they performed very well as a team.

There would also be merit in giving man of the match to a member of the losing team as Andrew Hogan put in a great shift for them. His work rate and diligence was exemplary and he was teak tough. In Barry Bennett, Sean Carey and Edward Carty, St Brendan's had other players who caught the eye but Hogan more so than anyone else helped bring them back into it and then get into a winning position. He was immense in the second half.

THE SCORERS

Cistercian College: Odhran Fletcher 1-9 (goal from a sideline, 4f and 3 '65s), Tadgh McKeogh 0-4, Ruairc Fay 0-3, James O'Sullivan, Dan Bowe, Jack Walsh, Stephen Fogarty 0-1 each.

St Brendan's CS: Edward Carty 1-5 (3f), Ruari Pilkington 1-1. Sean Carey 0-5 (4f), Andrew Hogan 0-2, Tom O'Dwyer, Harry O'Sullivan 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA: Aodhan Carroll; Thomas Deegan, Keelan Dunne, Luke Murphy (Portumna); Luke Murphy (Roscrea),James O'Sullivan, Oisin O'Shea; Dan Bowe, Enda Tormey; Oisin Farrell, Ruairc Fay, Jack Walsh; Odhran Fletcher, Tadgh McKeogh, Jack Byrne. Subs – Stephen Foagrty for Byrne (41m), Oisin Carroll for Tormey (55m).

ST BRENDAN'S CS BIRR: Kieran Coughlan; Philip Larkin, Michael Dooley, Darragh Carty; Darragh Hoyne, Barry Bennett, Joey McLoughney; Sean Carey, Jack Collins; Noel Standish, Andrew Hogan, Tom O'Dwyer; Edward Carty, Harry O'Sullivan, Ruairi Pilkington.

Referee – Sean Higgins, Laois.

REFEREE WATCH

Sean Higgins had a very good game, letting play flow and his refereeing contributed to the enjoyment levels,

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

There were a lot of big scores and crucial misses but the point Dan Bowe got in the 57^th minute helped drive Cistercian across the line. It gave them a two point lead and left St Brendan's needing something special to happen.

VENUE WATCH

At first glance, the decision to bring this derby between two schools only a few miles apart to Carlow seemed to be stonewall mad but it was the correct decision.

The first game had been played in Shinrone and did a fierce job on their pitch, cutting it up to the extent that extra time could not be played. Shinrone was a perfect venue for it, located between Cistercian College and St Brendan's but with the weather staying bad and plenty of rainfall, it couldn't take this game again.

St Brendan's Park in Birr would have been the natural habitat and you would imagine that Cisercian would have had no objections about playing there. It really should have been there but it is doubtful if Birr would have been playable in this weather and even if it was, they couldn't afford to have the pitch destroyed a few weeks before they host Offaly and Galway in the National Hurling League there – they have to have their pitch in top order for that and if it was showing the effects of a game on that big day, it would not look good for them.

There were plenty of other venues across south Offaly capable of hosting it. Quality venues such as Faithful Fields in Kilcormac, Banagher and Rath would in no way inconvenience Cistercian but with the recent weather, they couldn't risk the game being pulled late in the day. In this light, the call to avail of the 4G pitch at SETU in Carlow was wise. It wasn't ideal with a 11.30am throw in and the artificial pitch does provide a different game than the normal grass pitch but it meant, it was assured of going ahead.

There are great facilities at the third level college in Carlow and this pitch is a great asset to the GAA. It was a lovely venue and the game was well hosted.

STATISTICS

Wides: St Brendan's – 9 (5 in first half); Cistercian College – 8 (4 in first half).

Yellow cards: St Brendan;'s – 0; Cistercian College – 1 (Tadgh McKeogh).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0