THE dominant team from start to finish, the young men of St Joseph’s in Foxford delivered a championship performance befitting of the venue when defeating the secondary school students of Boyle, at the Centre of Excellence grounds in Bekan, last Wednesday.

That they lead by eight points at half-time having played into a stiff breeze was an indicator as to the superiority of St Joseph’s, so too the fact that they restricted their opponents to just one score during the entire second half.

With the experienced Kiltane footballer Sean Carey at the helm, the Moysiders looked a well-drilled, highly motivated outfit and by the eighth minute they had already moved 1-2 to no score ahead. A timely defensive intervention by Mikey Bourke eventually led to his team-mate Padraig Ruane scoring the game’s opening point at the other end, before wing-back Darren McHale joined the attack to double the Foxford score.

Then came the game’s first goal, a superb finish into the left corner by James Langan, after Anthony Jordan’s kick had dipped into Padraig Ruane who wasted no time in laying the ball off to the scorer.

For a brief period towards the end of the first quarter it looked as though Abbey Community College might make a game of it. Corner-forward Joe Kilcullen burst through from the 45 metre line and swapped passes with Micheál Lavin before shaking the St Joseph’s net, and Colm Goldrick followed up with an excellent point from the left wing. However, Padraig Ruane negated both those scores in the space of 60 seconds, first scoring his side’s second goal after an Anthony Jordan assist, and then blazing over another goal chance after another Jordan pass, to leave the Red and White 2-3 to 1-1 in front, with 17 minutes played.

Again there was another brief Boyle rally, represented by points from Kilcullen and Kevin Henry, a...

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