Agony for Muredach's as Gerald's grab the glory

The dream of winning a first ever Connacht Colleges senior ‘A’ football championship title was shattered on St Muredach’s College on Friday evening when the Ballina school suffered a 1-19 to 3-7 defeat at the hands of Mayo rivals St Gerald’s College, Castlebar.

An upset looked on the cards when the Moyside students drew level with St Gerald’s just six minutes into the second-half having trailed by seven at one stage of the first-half. But with the breeze at their backs, St Muredach’s scored just once after that – a consolation goal by Conor Breslin seven minutes into second-half stoppage time.

A huge crowd of 2,177 paid into the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence for this eagerly anticipated clash. St Gerald’s raced into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead after 14 minutes before a brilliant Sean Foody goal looked like it might spark St Muredach’s into life. But it would take Foody to punch home a second goal on the stroke of half-time just to reduce their arrears to three points, as excellent shooting by Joe Forry, Evan Walsh and Conor Hoban in particular, helped St Gerald's into a 0-12 to 2-3 interval lead.

St Muredach’s hit four of the first five points of the second-half but St Gerald’s steadied the ship and when corner-back Paul Hurst expertly dispatched a 44th minute penalty, that, allied with points by goalkeeper Oisin Costello, a ’45, Caolan Moran, Adam Burton, Ryan McNamara and Forry, his fifth of the game, ensured St Gerald’s were well on their way to a second Connacht title in three years.

They will now play Tralee CBS in next weekend’s All-Ireland PPS senior ‘A’ semi-final.

See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.