St Kieran’s Kilkenny 3-13
Presentation College Athenry 0-12
Paul Keane reports from Croke Park
BEATEN JUST LAST month in the Leinster final, St Kieran’s College capped an impressive turnaround by capturing the All-Ireland colleges hurling title at Croke Park with a powerful and action-packed display.
Appearing in their eighth consecutive Croke Cup decider, goals from Anthony Ireland Wall, Donagh Murphy and Ted Dunne proved crucial for the side managed by Brian Dowling.
And whatever about losing that provincial decider to the combined Offaly colleges side in early February, it was also a feat of bouncebackability to return from last year’s final defeat to Ardscoil Ris and claim a 24th title.
With Rory Glynn claiming the man-of-the-match award and Killian Doyle outstanding at midfield, St Kieran’s led from Glynn’s 19th minute point until full-time though Dunne’s stoppage time goal glossed the scoreline a little.
For Presentation College, Athenry there will be a terrible sense of deja vu about the defeat as they also lost to St Kieran’s in the 2018 and 2019 finals.
St Kieran’s returned to this year’s decider with a new look defence though joint captains Doyle and Harry Shine, along with attackers Ben Whitty, Dunne and Murphy all lined out in the decider for the second year running.
The provincial final loss could have halted their progress but a fired up St Kieran’s then hit St Raphaels, Loughrea for 2-28 in the All-Ireland quarter-finals before edging out Harty Cup winners Cashel CS in the last four to secure their return to Croke Park.
They met an in-form and dogged Athenry side, fresh off a narrow semi-final win over Thurles CBS.
The westerners set up again with number 15 Cian Donoghue as their sweeper, fortifying their defence and leaving them with a two-man inside forward line of free-taker Aaron Niland and Eoin Byrne. St Kieran’s deployed Jeff Neary as their spare defender.
Tiarnan Leen, the Athenry captain, struck two early points but it was St Kieran’s that hit the interval with the two-point lead thanks largely to Wall’s 24th minute goal.
It was a cracking goal at the end of a surging solo run and his sidewinder to the top left corner sent the St Kieran’s support wild.
But the standout Kieran’s player of the half was Glynn who picked off four super points from play to leave them 1-7 to 0-8 up at half-time, Niland supplying half of the Athenry scores.
A game that was neck and neck at that stage tilted the way of the Kilkenny side after the break and Murphy’s 38th minute goal put significant daylight between the teams for the first time, 2-8 to 0-9.
It was another memorable solo goal as Murphy showed all his craft to play the ball into the loose ahead of him, to avoid being dispossessed or penalised for overcarrying, before cleverly doubling on it to the net.
Athenry needed a goal but could only muster four points in total in the second-half, and just 0-2 from play.
St Kieran’s got better as the game wore on and sealed yet another All-Ireland win with a third goal, this time from Dunne, in stoppage time when he latched onto a long delivery and fired from close range to the net.
St Kieran’s College scorers: Anthony Ireland Wall 1-2, Ted Dunne 1-1, Rory Glynn 0-4, Donagh Murphy 1-0, Harry Shine 0-2 (0-1f), Ben Whitty 0-1 (0-1 65), Bobby Murphy 0-1, Padraig Naddy 0-1, Killian Doyle 0-1.
Presentation College, Athenry scorers: Aaron Niland 0-6 (0-5f, 0-1 65), Tiarnan Leen 0-2, Gearoid Fahy 0-1, Matthew Tarpey 0-1, Jason Rabbitte 0-1, Shane Monaghan 0-1.
St Kieran’s Kilkenny
1. Stephen Manogue
3. Bill Hughes, 2. Killian Corcoran, 6. Jeff Neary
4. Timmy Kelly, 5. Tom McPhilips, 7. Padraig Naddy
8. Aaron McEvoy, 15. Donagh Murphy
13. Ben Whitty, 14. Ted Dunne, 9. Killian Doyle
12. Rory Glynn, 10. Anthony Ireland Wall, 11. Harry Shine
Subs
- 18. Niall Shortall for McEvoy (39)
- 19. Bobby Murphy for Kelly (39)
- 17. Sean Hunt for Wall (58)
- 23. Sean Keenan for Whitty (63)
Presentation College Athenry
1. Darragh Walsh
4. Sean Murphy, 3. Conor Lawless, 2. Aaron Shannon
15. Cian Donoghue
8. Matthew Tarpey, 6. Michael Fallon, 7. Aaron McDonagh
5. Darragh Counihan, 9. Tiarnan Leen
10. Gearoid Fahy, 11. Darragh McCartin, 12. Orin Burke
13. Aaron Niland, 14. Eoin Byrne
Subs
- 18. Colin Counihan for Darragh Counihan (h/t)
- 19. Shane Monaghan for Byrne (39)
- 26. Jason Rabbitte for McCartin (49)
- 17. Nigel Kelly for Burke (57)
- 20. Oisin Quirke for Fahy (58)
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
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