Joyce heralds side and management team

St Gerald’s College manager David Joyce beamed with pride as his side displayed remarkable courage to keep St Muredach’s College at aby and win the Connacht schools title.

Joyce, who also manages the Gaelic team, may have had a challenge in raising the spirits of some of his team as six of the starters against St Muredach’s were involved in the All-Ireland PPS Schools Hogan Cup semi-final defeat to Omagh only five days previously but they showed tremendous bravery to do a Connacht schools double.

“It’s some turnabout from some of these boys after the disappointment in Ballyshannon to get back and get focused a put in a performance. The conditions were horrendous, with the wind and rain but the boys put in a massive shift,” said Joyce. 

Three of those men in Gavin Forry, Ryan Gibbons and Shane Cunningham were outstanding on the day and goalkeeper Oisin Costello put in a man of the match performance.

“Two wise lads (Shane and Ryan) at the back and good footballers as well. Able to play when they have to but able to tidy up also as well. Muredach’s are a great side and put us under massive pressure.

“Oisin (Costello) is only in TY but he's the safest pair of hands I've ever seen in schools football. He carries himself in such a great way.

“Gavin (Forry) has it in him. It's amazing the amount of times in big games he delivers. That strike was as good as ever I've seen in years. But, winning games like this also comes down to grit and effort as well as brilliance and every one of the lads put in a huge effort today.” Joyce added: “These players have been going at it for six years. A large part of that is down to Tom Byrne, a teacher at our school. He’s currently absent at the moment but he’d have put in years and years or work. You can see it in the style of play and how we work.

He went on to pay tribute to Sean Curran and Tom Byrne for their help, with the latter absent from the game, and believes they are capable of mixing it with the best in the National semi-finals.

“He wasn't here today, but he has played a huge role in this success,” Joyce said. “It was really tough out there. St Muredach's brought a big crowd and it took a lot of grit to win it, but it was always going to come down to moments of brilliance and a goalie pulling out one or two saves and that's exactly what happened.

“Last four teams in the country, everyone is a good team. We’ve fantastic players, we work hard, we play the right way and hopefully we take our chance on the day.