All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup (Under 18.5 A Football) Semi-Final – St. Brendan’s Killarney 3-13 St Colmans Claremorris 1-11

St. Brendan’s Killarney defeated St Colmans Claremorris by 3-13 to 1-11 in the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup (Under 18.5 A Football) Semi-Final on Saturday March 18th at Cusack Park Ennis.

St Brendan's power past St Colman's to book Hogan Cup final spot https://t.co/a66It1yOyt

— The42.ie GAA (@The42GAA) March 18, 2017

St Brendan’s power past St Colman’s to book Hogan Cup final spot

Goals were key for the Killarney outfit who are aiming to defend their title.

St Brendan’s College, Killarney (Kerry) 3-13 St Colman’s Claremorris (Mayo) 1-11

Report from the42.ie

TWO GOALS IN three second-half minutes were crucial to defending Hogan Cup champions St Brendan’s College returning to Croke Park for the decider in two weeks’ time.
The Sem overcame a spirited challenge from St Colman’s of Claremorris this afternoon at Cusack Park in Ennis.

Level at 1-8 apiece, 10 minutes into the second-half, a fortuitous goal from the Sem’s David Shaw went underneath Claremorris goalkeeper Brian McGuinness in tricky and slippery conditions to put them back in charge after leading by 0-8 to 1-4 at half-time.

Shaw combined with Cian Gammell and Mark O’Shea in the 43rd minute to fist home his second and the school’s third goal on a day the contributions of Chris O’Donoghue in defence, Gammell at midfield along with those of Niall Donohoe and Dara Moynihan going forward stood out in an eight point win for the Sem.

Conor Diskin and Jack Ronayne were St Colman’s key men on the day as Diskin fisted in their goal in the 21st minute after a Brian Quinn attempt at a point dropped short. The Sem now await the winners of next Wednesday’s second semi-final between St Mary’s Magherafelt of Derry and St Peter’s College of Wexford in the decider on Saturday, 1 April.

Scorers:
St Brendans: D Shaw (2-2), M O’Shea (1-1), D O’Sullivan (0-3, 1f), N Donohoe and D Moynihan (0-2 each), C Flynn, C Gammell and B Courtney (‘45’) (0-1 each)
St Colman’s: E Ronane (0-4, 1f), C Diskin (1-0), J Ronayne (0-3), J Jennings, B Quinn, C Goulding and S McGreal (0-1 each)

Teams
St Brendans College, Killarney
Robert Osborne (Killarney Legion)
Lorcán McMonagle (Dr Crokes)
Chris O’Donoghue (Glenflesk)
Sean O’Leary (Kilcummin)
Jack Griffin (Dr Crokes)
Michael Potts (Dr Crokes)
Niall Donohoe (Firies)
Billy Courtney (Dr Crokes)
Cian Gammell (Killarney Legion)
Dara Moynihan (Spa)
Donnachadh O’Sullivan (Firies)
Barry Keane (Listry)
David Shaw (Dr Crokes)
Mark O’Shea (Dr Crokes)
Ciaran Flynn (Firies)
Subs: Michael Devlin (Killarney Legion) for Flynn (HT), Mark Harnett (Dr Crokes) for Keane (48), Barry Slattery (Killarney Legion) for McMonagle (53), Evan Cosgrave (Firies) for Donohoe (57), Jake Flynn (Firies) for O’Shea (59), Oran O’Donoghue (Glenflesk) for Gammell (60 + 2)

St Colman’s Claremorris
Brian McGuinness (Claremorris)
Kieran Fahey (Davitts)
Kenneth Lydon (Garrymore)
Bradley Hughes (Garrymore)
David Gannon (Claremorris)
Paddy Barry (Claremorris)
Brian Quinn (Claremorris)
Conor Diskin (Claremorris)
Ciaran Golding (Balla)
Stephen McGreal (Claremorris)
Jack Ronayne (Davitts)
Enda Hession (Garrymore)
James Jennings (Mayo Gaels)
Liam Óg Horkan (Garrymore)
Evan Ronane (Davitts)
Subs: Dimitri Trench (Davitts) for Barry (HT), Tomas Morris (Hollymount/Carramore) for Quinn (47), Francis Regan (Mayo Gaels) for Hughes (51)

Referee: John Hickey (Carlow)

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The Masita GAA All Ireland Post Primary Schools Hogan Cup (Senior ‘A’ Football) semi-finals take place on Saturday. At Cusack Park, Ennis, St Colmans, Claremorris take on the fabled and in-form St Brendan’s Killarney.

There are strong family ties within the Colman’s set-up with brothers Pat and Enda Hession being part of the Claremorris squad. They beat St Attracta’s, Tubbercurry, to win the Connacht title at the start of the year and it’s clear that the tie that binds current and past players from the school remains healthy. Current Mayo senior footballers Colm Boyle, Shane Nally, Stephen Coen and Caolan Crowe, all of whom have worn the famous red of Colman’s in the recent past, have been helping the side that currently fields five Mayo minors. It’s clear that ‘Colman’s joint managers Vinnie Walsh and Gareth Duggan have left no stone unturned in their preparations this season as they bid to bring the Hogan Cup back to Claremorris. The Mayo school has won the provincial ‘A’ senior championship five times in the history of the competition: 1970, 1977, 1981, 2009 and 2017. For a school with such a rich history and great tradition of producing wonderful footballers and fine teams, it seems remarkable that their trophy cabinet hasn’t been packed even fuller.

They will meet a really strong St Brendan’s side, however. The Kerry side are reigning Hogan Cup champions and ended a long wait without national success last season. In that final David Clifford contributed a massive 2-5 to help secure a first Hogan Cup success since 1992, and third in all. Dara Moynihan was also superb as St Brendan’s finished with a flourish to deny St Pat’s Maghera a sixth title, and erase the memories of most recent final defeats in 2010 and 2008. The defending champions blew Tralee CBS away in the Munster Colleges SFC final at Austin Stacks Park, putting in a thrilling second half performance to claim a 22nd provincial title.

Their big guns really showed up that day with Billy Courtney outstanding in the middle of the field and Donnchadh O’Sullivan flying it too. AFL trialist David Shaw is also at the heart of their push and is capable of putting on an exhibition of score-taking at any time. Indeed the entire St Brendan’s forward line could yet carry too much potency for St Colman’s, but it should be a great battle.