Offaly players to the fore as Moate CS reach Leinster A semi-final

Offaly will be represented on both sides of the draw in the upcoming Leinster Schools “A semi-finals, after a Moate Community School team with a strong Tubber flavour overwhelmed St. Peter’s of Wexford in the last of the four quarter-finals, played this afternoon at Killeshin GAA club.

Leinster Post-Primary Schools SF “A” Quarter-final

MOATE CS 1-13

ST. PETER’S, WEXFORD 0-5

The weather gods certainly smiled on the side managed by Peter Tormey and current Roscommon senior footballer Niall Daly, as they played with the aid of a strong diagonal breeze in the first half, and then saw that wind die down almost completely during the interval. However they also made their own luck by having a much better plan as to how to create scores, and a wonderful attitude to tackling, support play and all-round defending.

In addition, Moate were also well-served by the two stars of the team, two players both more well-known for their hurling exploits.

Donal Shirley, wing back on the Offaly minor side that lost last year’s All-Ireland final in heartbreaking fashion to Tipperary, controlled the game from centre back in the opening half, chipping in two points from distance as Moate used the breeze to take an 0-6 to 0-2 lead into the dressing room.

After half time, the mantle of on-field talisman was taken over by David O’Reilly, Lake County senior hurling panellist and man of the match in Castletown Geoghegan’s win in last year’s senior county final.

O’Reilly pulled out from corner forward to effectively operate as a link man in the half-forward line, while also dropping in to field several kickouts. Moate All Whites club man Eoin Bracken also came into the game considerably, kicking two of the first three points of the second half, and then winning the possession that led to Ronan Murray flicking the ball to the net for the game’s only goal with eight minutes gone in the second half, but it was O’Reilly who really led the way, kicking two points from play and providing a constant flow of possession to his colleagues.

It was a different game early on, when some strong running and good possession football from the Wexford side meant that the midlanders struggled to take advantage of the wind. It wasn’t until the 11th minute that O’Reilly opened the scoring from a free, shortly followed up by a brilliantly-struck ’45 from Shirley.

Point-scoring wasn’t easy at either end of the ground, while a series of goal chances also went astray, at both ends. The two goalkeepers, Eoin Halligan and James Mitchell, came up with huge saves to deny Pádraig McLoughlin and Oisín Kavanagh respectively, while there were also wide goal attempts at either end, and a penalty from Dean O’Reilly that was saved by Halligan.

Throughout this period of the team, Moate’s tackling was sublime and while the Wexford school – who beat them in their last Leinster final appearance, six years ago – had some very strong runners through the middle, they were forced into some very difficult shots.

Excellent scores from Shirley, Bracken and Daragh Lowry made it 0-6 to 0-2 at the interval and that seemed like the least that Moate would need, given the strength of the wind, but with ten minutes gone after the restart, it was 1-10 to 0-2, and the tie had a very different complexion. Eoin Bracken shot two points (one from a penalty that was blazed over the bar and Conor Fox also chipped in with a fine point, but the key moment was Murray’s goal, flicked to the net after Conaire Martin’s looping shot hung in the air and dropped invitingly for the inside forward to succeed where so many others had failed in this game and find the net.

Now eleven points adrift, St. Peter’s were forced to chase the game, which in turn allowed Moate to sit back, soak up the pressure and strike on the counter attack.

The scoring dried up from there, with just three points each kicked for the remainder of the game – all frees, bar one more from O’Reilly – and despite the best efforts of players like Kyle Clarke Hanglow and Harry Murphy to engineer something after they came off the bench, St. Peter’s never managed to test James Mitchell in the Moate goal, and so it was the famous Westmeath school, which incorporates the Carmelite College (three-time All-Ireland winners and six-time Leinster champions between 1975 and 1981) that advance to the last four of this year’s Brother Bosco Cup race.

THE SCORERS

Moate CS: David O’Reilly 0-4 (0-2f), Ronan Murray 1-1, Eoin Bracken 0-4 (0-3f, 0-1 pen), Donal Shirley 0-2 (0-1 45), Daragh Lowry 0-1, Conor Fox 0-1.

St. Peter’s, Wexford: Seán Rowley 0-1, Oisín Kavanagh 0-1, Luke Murphy 0-1f, Seán Cooney 0-1f, Harry Murphy 0-1f.

THE TEAMS

Moate CS: James Mitchell; Tom Gorman, Adam Keane, Cathal Guinan; Padraig McLoughlin, Donal Shirley, Aodhán Curran; Daragh Lowry, Eoin Bracken; Conaire Martin, Conor Fox, Dean O’Neill; David O’Reilly, Ronan Murray, Tiernan O’Donovan.  

Subs: Adam Daly for O’Neill (half-time), Alan Lynam for Fox (55), O’Neill for McLoughlin (57).

St. Peter’s, Wexford: Eoin Halligan; Kevin Byrne, Alex Kirby, Simon Roche; Dan Devereux, Robbie Delaney, Pádraig Power; Seán Rowley, Luke Roche; David McCarthy, Jack Hennessy, Will Hayes; Oisín Kavanagh, Luke Murphy, Seán Cooney.

Subs: Kyle Clarke Hanglow for McCarthy (half-time), Mark Hennessy for Hayes (40), Michael Furlong for S Roche (45), Conor Cullen for Kavanagh (51), Harry Murphy for Cooney (55).

Referee – Des Cooney (Laois)