Thirteen years after St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, made their only appearance in a Hogan Cup final, this weekend the Castlebar school go in search their second appearance in the showpiece occasion of colleges’ football. Joe McCabe’s side easily saw off the challenge of Sligo’s Summerhill in the Connacht final where they had the game wrapped up by half time and survived the mistake of entering a sixth sub into the fray with time almost up to book this weekend’s clash. Standing in their way is the formidable challenge of St Colman’s, Newry, who beat Omagh CBS in the MacRory Cup final this year by 1-14 to 1-8 bridging a 12 year gap between their last Ulster titles.
The Down outfit come with a formidable reputation with star attacker Jerome Johnston kicking five points in the final and wing forward Caolan Mooney chipping in with 1-2. Not that St Gerald’s do not have star men of their own with Cillian O’Connor the star man on display in the Connacht final from his centre half forward spot. The midfield powerhouse duo of Danny Kirby and Ciaran Mulgrew will need to be at their best to win their battle with Connor Gough and Niall McPartland in the middle third, while the work rate of Fergal Durcan will be essential if they are to pick up the win. Gerald’s will be hoping that full forward Cian Costello will be able to shake off the injury he picked up in the Connacht final scoring the only goal in the provincial showpiece occasion. It has been a long time since the Castlebar school made it this far in the competition, falling short on a number of occasions with a number of very fancied sides and they will leave nothing to chance this weekend.
Gortnor go for glory
While all eyes in Castlebar will be on St Gerald’s in Longford, in Crossmolina they have the small matter of an All Ireland Colleges’ C final to contend with this weekend. Gortnor Abbey are heading to Cusack Park in Ennis on Saturday afternoon to take on Kenmare Community School from Kerry. While the C championship may not have the glamour of the higher grades, the Gortnor Abbey boys have put in as much work as any side in the country and had to overcome a number of tough encounters to get this far. In the All Ireland semi-final they saw off Tyrone opposition in the form of St Joseph’s, Donaghmone, and in the Connacht final Clifden Community College were beaten after extra time. Throw in for the final is down for 2pm on Saturday.
Una Sinnott 25/03/2010 this bit apparently -
Davitt College in vocational schools’ semi-final action
The Davitt College senior team claimed the Connacht A vocational schools’ title last Monday in Ballyhaunis thanks to a comprehensive 3-9 to 1-7 win over the 2009 champions Athenry. This was the first time in three years the Castlebar school had claimed the title. Davitt College survived the dismissal of half forward Kenneth Guthrie in the first half to claim the victory, with Darren Durkan, Shane Concannon, and Darren Flannery all netting goals for them. This Saturday the Castlebar school will face Ulster champions St Malachy’s of Ballymahon who are the defending All Ireland champions at this grade. The game is down for throw in at 2pm in Castlewellan.
Correction
In last week’s edition March 19, 2010 a story entitled “St Tiernan’s anger over the overage ruling” appeared. In the article, it stated that “Crossmolina had played a number of over age players in their Connacht final win over St Tiernan’s”. The article should have read that Davitt College had played a number of over age players in their Connacht final win over St Tiernan’s. We are happy to clarify this mistake.
