All-Ireland heartbreak for St Brendan’s of Belmullet
Keelan Barrett of St Brendan's College, Belmullet in action against Tadhg Bane of Rice College, Ennis in the All-Ireland Senior D Colleges Football Final in the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan. Photo: St Brendan's College
Rice College, Ennis 2-10
St Brendan’s, Belmullet 2-9
It was heartbreak for the boys from Belmullet in their All-Ireland Senior Colleges D semi-final in Bekan on Saturday afternoon as a storming late comeback fell just short against the Munster champions.
Belmullet had trailed by 1-9 to 0-4 on 42 minutes and playing into the strong wind, their chances looked slim.
However, they dug deep to launch a rousing comeback and very nearly rescued this game. A point from the superb James Ivers followed by two goals in three minutes had the game wide open once more.
Both goals were scored by their captain Fionn O’Donoghue and were preceded by good build up play by Kyle McGuire and John Howard for the first goal and Jamie Reilly for the second.
Suddenly, with still ten minutes to go, the gap was back to just a point.
But in what would turn out to be an absolutely vital response, Rice College went upfield and kicked 1-1 in 60 seconds, both from the boot of full-forward Niall Doyle.
That looked like it had extinguished St Brendan’s hopes but the reality was it left just enough breathing space by the game’s end.
St Brendan’s attacked in waves driven on by the likes of Reilly, Ivers, Jack Gaughan, Thady Walsh and John Howard and three successive frees from O’Donoghue had the gap at one with two minutes of injury time to play.
But Brendan’s just couldn’t salvage the draw, a brave late effort by Ciarán Cosgrove trailing just wide.
The reality, when they reflect on it, is that Brendan’s lost this game in the first half. Playing with the aid of the strong wind, they were dominant in every facet except the most important one – the scoreboard.
Fionn O’Donoghue had a penalty saved by Tony Burke, Keelin Barrett fired a great goal chance wide while a plethora of good two-point and single point opportunities were sent wide.
It was scarcely believable that Rice College led at half-time, 0-3 to 0-2 and they grew in confidence as the first half developed.
With the wind, they hit three two-pointers (Brendan’s scored none) and looked primed for a straightforward victory. But Brendan’s threw everything at the comeback and died with their boots on.
See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage
