A sporting landmark that will live long in the memory

Trying to find the words that would do justice to a thrilling Tony O’Neill Cup final was never going to be easy, but as the Western People’s reporter on the scene, that was the task facing yours truly at around 4pm last Wednesday afternoon.

It felt impossible to convey the incredible drama that had unfolded between Rice College and Blackrock College, particularly from half-time onwards. So in the interests of chancing one’s arm and looking for inspiration, the first question posed to Rice College coach Brian Flannery was how he would assess what he had just seen.

“Impossible to sum up, just helter-skelter” he replied. No help there, since it wouldn’t exactly be fair to readers by saying that the action was impossible to describe. But when it came to the challenge that Flannery and his colleague Darragh Connolly faced over the course of this school season – guiding Rice College to success in the blue riband competition on the FAI Schools calendar – that task had just been completed in a truly memorable fashion.

Of course, the roots of this historic win go much deeper than that.

“Myself and Darragh have been with these guys since first year, we brought them to the futsal down in Waterford,” he recalled.

“It was our first year with the team and we ended up winning that. We’ve progressed all the way up through, but it’s not all us, there’s a lot of development from the local clubs in Westport that the guys play for. That really has made for a tight-knit unit, they’re all best friends, and I think that’s massive. Myself and Darragh, we’re lucky that we got to row in with these lads and be brought on by their success.” 

For many of these players, they’ve known nothing but success. Some of them were involved when they lost a tense and tight Tom Ticher Cup final (U17) a year previously at the same venue in Athlone, but many of these players have swept the boards all the way up along.

But even though the teams were deadlocked at half-time with no scores on the board, Flannery recognised that it was the South Dublin side that had the better of things during that opening 45 minutes.

“In the first-half I felt as though the lads were standing off Blackrock a little bit, it was almost as if the lads were trying to just get a feel for the game and the flow of the match. So at half-time our message was for them to try and get up tight to Blackrock when they were on the ball, to try and move the ball on the ground and play it in through the middle.

“The high balls, while Jack (O’Malley) was getting on the end of them, there was no-one there to support him so once we changed things around, it meant you were carrying the team with you while you moved the ball. It brought more players up into the attack and created more chances.

“They were very strong on the left wing, very good technically, so they always had the ability to just get around a player. At half-time we said to keep showing them the line, don’t let them cut inside. Now they were that good, they were still able to at times, but at the same time, we noticed that we could play down the other side effectively as well, and as it turned out Rían Durkan scored both goals.” 

Twice they took the lead, twice they were reeled in. And by the time penalties started, the atmosphere in Athlone Town Stadium – electric before a ball was kicked, feverish and delirious by the time the spot kicks rolled around – might have deterred other teams. It was at that point where the journey this group has travelled really stood to them, in Flannery’s opinion.

“I think the lads feed off it. This is the fourth All-Ireland final in-a-row for Rice College, through the U17s and now the U19s, so the lads are not put out by a crowd and they tend to be quite comfortable with that crowd. It makes for a great atmosphere and builds the whole occasion.” 

In this instance, it helped to build a sporting landmark that will live long in the memory.