Peter's faltered after break
Mark O'Connor of St. Peter's is challenged by Tony Gibbons from Ardscoil na Trionóide in Saturday's quarter-final in Athy.
Wednesday February 03 2010
ST. PETER'S stumbled out of the Leinster Colleges Senior football 'A' championship at the quarter-final stage against Ardscoil na Trionóide in Athy on Saturday last.
Leading by 0-5 to 0-3 after 24 minutes, the Wexford town school failed to register a further score, and never looked like doing so, as their feisty opponents took a stranglehold and never let go.
It was always going to be a tough assignment for St. Peter's in their opponents' back yard, but their workrate in the first-half was nothing short of phenomenal. Unfortunately, it was impossible to maintain for 60 minutes and the Athy school prospered after the break.
A fine effort by Stephen Corrigan settled the nerves in the opening minute, but two Cian Reynolds frees and a Darroch Mulhall point saw the home side take a two-point lead after six minutes. Athy goalkeeper Podgie Walsh kept out Kevin Whelan's shot from tight to the left byline before a long-range Mark O'Connor free cut the deficit in half.
Shane Birney produced a superb save to deny Niall Kelly just before the midpoint of the half, and that reprieve was taken advantage of when Glen Murphy levelled the scores. A booming strike by James Gordon gave St. Peter's the lead again while Murphy, not for the first time, linked well with Tomás Power to put their side up by two.
Despite taking their biggest lead of the day, warning lights were still flashing for the visitors. They had dominated for the previous 20 minutes, particularly territorially, but the coughing up of possession in the tackle was turning into a pandemic and prevented the Wexford school from taking maximum advantage while in the ascendancy.
Kevin Feely grabbed his side's first score for 23 minutes to pull them within one, and an incorrectly awarded free - when the ball had already gone over the end-line before the infringement was committed - left the sides level at the break (0-5 each).
Three Liam McGovern frees in the opening ten minutes of the second-half set Athy, playing with the aid of a slight breeze, on the road to victory. Moves over halfway were few and far between for St. Peter's as the tidy, composed passing they had displayed before the break completely disappeared.
Kelly finally registered the scores that his play deserved in the final ten minutes. He added a couple of points to a final Reynolds free and grabbed the game's only goal, breaking in behind the defence and latching on to Mulhall's pass before firing past Birney and completing a nine-point Ardscoil na Trionóide victory.
- DEAN GOODISON
