Forry to the rescue as St Gerald's salvage valuable point                               

It was a tale of two halves in Claregalway’s Knockdoemore last Friday morning, as St. Gerald’s College of Castlebar and Coláiste Bhaile Chláir played out a dramatic draw in blustery conditions.

In what was the two schools’ second outing of the competition, St. Gerald’s College came into the PPS Senior A Football Championship fixture with one win on the board, while their opponents were in need of a victory after an opening day defeat.

The opening period saw the men in maroon prevail in the kick-outs battle - being first to the second balls - while demonstrating promising direct running power at the opposition backline. Playing against the wind, the away outfit found themselves eight down after 20 minutes.

St. Gerald’s Ryan McNamara opened the scoring of the game with a sweet left-footed strike, before Coláiste Bhaile Chláir produced five unanswered scores, which included two goals.

Coláiste Bhaile Chláir’s centre-forward Sean O’Callaghan was influential in the first half, while Mark Concannon and the lively Cathal Heavey were the players to find the net.

The talented Rhys Neary replied with a point for St. Gerald’s, before the Claregalway outfit popped over two more scores to put them nine points in front going into the break. As Coláiste Bhaile Chláir extended their lead to ten points shortly after the restart, signs looked ominous for the Castlebar outfit, but Forry found a way to dig deep and drag his side back into the contest.

Firstly, the St. Gerald’s number 14 looped over his first score of the game, as the tables started to turn midway through the second half.

Substitute Conor Hoban made an important impact off the bench, as he scored his first of the encounter, before Caolan Moran added another point just after the 40th minute.

Neary neatly set up Eoghan Dever for Gerald’s first goal, before Neary himself found the net with a superb finish after some quality work from Forry.

Claregalway produced some decent scores of their own, including a superb two-pointer free from their goalkeeper against the wind, which looked as if it might be enough to see them over the line.

But St. Gerald’s did not give up.

As the game ticked by, and with just over five minutes to play, they found themselves six points down - up stepped Forry…

The lifeline arrived when the young Castlebar Mitchels forward fended off the opposition defender before producing a fine finish to leave three between the teams.

Hoban then popped up again with another crucial score, this time a two-pointer, to give Gerald’s a glimmer of hope of salvaging a comeback against all odds.

In the last play of the game, Man of the Match Forry got on the ball and fired the ball over the bar to bring the sides level and save the day.

The referee sounded the whistle, as St. Gerald’s went home the happier.

Scorers - St. Gerald’s College: Joe Forry 1-0-3, Rhys Neary 1-0-1, Eoghan Dever 1-0-0, Conor Hoban 0-2-1, Ryan McNamara and Caolan Moran 0-0-1 each.

St. Gerald’s College: James Bolster, Matthew Kelly, Matthew Flannelly, Eoghan Murray, Eoghan Dever, Fionn McHale, Jack Diffily, Caolan Moran, Ben Joyce, Tiernan Brady, Patrick Garvey, Ross Connolly, Ryan McNamara, Joe Forry, Rhys Neary.

Subs: Conor Hoban (for Brady 30), Luke Lydon (for Connolly 30), William Hoban (for McNamara).

Coláiste Bhaile Chláir: Jamie King, Eoin O’Toole, Kyle Concannon, Dylan Rabbitte, Ronan Duggan, Daniel Hughes, Andy Lonergan, Sean Moran, Mark Concannon, Cathal Heavey, Sean O’Callaghan, Jack Cryan, Cormac Feeney, Jack Kelly, Cian Meehan.