Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Croke Cup Senior A Hurling Semi-Final – St. Kieran’s Kilkenny 4-10 Ard Scoil Ris (Limerick) 1-12

St. Kieran’s Kilkenny defeated Ard Scoil Ris (Limerick) by 4-10 to 1-12 in the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Croke Cup Senior A Hurling Semi-Final on Saturday March 22nd at Templemore.

St Kieran’s cruise into derby decider
St Kieran’s (Kilkenny) 4-10 ArdScoil Rís (Limerick) 1-12

ALL-IRELAND COLS ‘A’ HC SEMI-FINALS

The first leg on a memorable day for Kilkenny school’s hurling was completed in goal-rich fashion in Templemore by St Kieran’s. The first goal came from Conor O’Carroll, who took on an incisive pass from Jason Byrne before coolly finishing. Then sub Robbie Donnelly got on the end of a scramble near the line to earn the first score of his eventual 1-3.

Ardscoil Rís kept chipping away to stay in the match, but a third Kieran’s goal, by Tadhg O’Dwyer, left the Kilkenny side with a nice cushion. The Limerick lads never lost hope, and a late goal by Ronan Lynch brought them within three. The clincher came soon after, a mix-up in the Ardscoil goalmouth ended with the sliotar going in via ‘keeper Paraic O’Loughlin and unlucky full-back Barry Fitzpatrick.

Scorers –
St Kieran’s: T O’Dwyer, R Donnelly (0-1f) 1-3 each, B Fitzpatrick (o-g), C O’Carroll 1-0 each, C Murphy 0-2, K Blanchfield, E Walsh 0-1 each
Ardscoil Rís: R Lynch 1-6 (0-5fs), C Fitzgerald 0-3, C McCarthy 0-2, I Galvin 0-1.

St Kieran’s – J Barcoe, M Cody, T Walsh, J Keoghan; D Mullen, J Cleere, E Walsh; K Blanchfield, J Maher; J Byrne, L Blanchfield, B Cody; C Murphy, C O’Carroll, T O’Dwyer
Subs: B Ryan (56) for T O’Dwyer, R Donnelly (44) for C. Murphy.

ArdScoil Rís – P O’Loughlin; E Costelloe, B Fitzpatrick, J O’Halloran; G Browne, M Casey, J English; C O’Brien, R Lynch; A Morey, C Lynch, I Galvin; C Crehan, C Fitzgerald, M O’Loughlin
Subs: T Grimes (h-t) for C O’Brien, C McCarthy (35) for A Morey, P Casey (42) for M O’Loughlin, A Gillane (42) for I Galvin.

Ref – F Horgan (Tipperary)

Ardscoil Ris 1-12 St Kierans College 4-10

Round-up by Jerome O’Connell for the Limerick Leader newspaper

The Harty Cup champions fell to a barrage of second half goals. It was Ardscoil Ris that led 0-4 to 0-3 at the end of the first half. But all changed in a 90-second spell early in the second half when Conor O’Carroll and impressive sub Robbie Donnelly goaled to put the Kilkenny side 2-6 to 0-7 clear. Then 12-minutes from time, Tadhg O’Dwyer added their third goal for a 3-8 to 0-8 lead.

The Limerick city side had Conor Fitzgerald and Charlie McCarthy points but couldn’t find the required goal. They had it back to 3-8 to 0-12 with five minutes to go. Then Ronan Lynch goaled and it was 1-12 to 3-9 coming to the final whistle. But up the field went the Kilkenny city side and forced the Ardscoil defence to fumble the ball over their own line to seal their fate.

SCORERS: Ardscoil Ris: Ronan Lynch 1-6 (0-5frees), Conor Fitzgerald 0-3, Charlie McCarthy 0-2, Ian Galvin 0-1. St Kierans: Robbie Donnelly 1-3 (0-1free), Tadhg O’Dwyer 1-2, Conor O’ Carroll 1-0, Eoin Walsh, Kevin Blanchfield, Liam Blanchfield 0-1 each.,

ARDSCOIL RIS: Paraic O’Loughlin (Clonlara); Eoghan Costello (Adare), Barry Fitzpatrick (Sixmilebridge), Josh O’Halloran (Na Piarsaigh); Gordan Brown (Na Piarsaigh), Michael Casey (Na Piarsaigh), Jack English (Adare); Ronan Lynch (Na Piarsaigh), Cian O’Brien (Mungret); Alex Morey (Sixmilebridge), Cian Lynch (Patrickswell), Ian Galvin (Clonlara); Colin Crehan (O’Callaghan Mills), Conor Fitzgerald (Claughaun), Micheal O’Loughlin (Clonlara)
Subs: Charlie McCarthy (Adare) for Cian O’Brtien (h-t), Thomas Grimes (Na Piarsaigh) for Jack English (47mins), Peter Casey (Na Piarsaigg) for Micheal O’Loughlin (50mins), Aaron Gillane (Patrickswell) for Ian Galvin (55mins).

ST KIERANS: Jason Barcoe; Micheal Cody, Tommy Walsh, Jack Keoghan; Jason Cleere, Darren Mullen, Eoin Walsh; James Maher, Kevin Blanchfield; Jason Byrne, Liam Blanchfield, Brian Cody; Conor Murphy, Conor O’Carroll, Tadhg O’Dwyer
Subs: Robbie Donnelly for Conor Murphy (36mins), Billy Ryan for Tadhg O’Dwyer (57mins).

REFEREE: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary)