First football title for Colaiste na Mi
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Coach Kevin Reilly with the Colaiste na Mi players who won the North Leinster Schools 2nd Year title (from left) back - Alex Rogan, Alex Quigley, Caidean McFadden, Kyle Connolly, Andrew Morrissey, Cormac Maguire, Matthew Broe, Charlie Cotter, Eoin McElroy, Alex Swaine, Raphael Emmanuel; front - Jake Storey, Oisin Crinion, Ryan McMullan, Aaron O’Donoghue, Jake Wade, Darragh Farrelly, Jamie O’Reilly, James Lusk, Darragh McConnell.Image 2 of 2
Colaiste na Mi captain Darragh Farrelly receives the Shield from Leinster GAA’s Tadhg Doran.SCHOOLS GAA
Colaiste na Mi made history on Wednesday of last week by winning their first North Leinster Schools football title with a 4-8 to 4-4 victory over Ardscoil Phadraig Granard in St Loman's Mullingar.
With St Patrick's CS dominating the schools football landscape in Navan for decades the Johnstown school is making serious progress in Gaelic Football since established just nine years ago, having made finals in all four grades this year.
With former Louth and Kilmacud Crokes manager Paddy Carr as the school principal and former Meath star and current Trim manager Kevin Reilly, along with several other teachers, volunteering to coach the school teams Colaiste na Mi is certainly on the rise.
The schools draws players several local clubs including from Walterstown, Navan O'Mahonys, Simonstown, Seneschalstown, Bective and Skryne and provides excellent opportunities for these students to excel both in the classroom and on the pitch.
With proper support and investment from Meath GAA, Colaiste na Mi is fast becoming another Navan school cultivating and nurturing young GAA talent.
On Wednesday the Johnstown school travelled to St Loman's in Mullingar to take on a highly regarded Ardscoil Phadraig from Granard in Longford in the North Leinster 2nd Year final.
The Navan side started well and raced into the lead with two points from Navan O'Mahonys' Jamie O'Reilly and Walterstown's Alex Quigley.
Those early points were quickly followed by the crucial opening goal as Andrew Morrissey got on the end of a high ball into the square and finished to the net to make it 1-2 to 0-0 after 15 minutes.
Ardscoil Phadraig did have their chances, but Colaiste na Mi defended superbly and then hit a purple patch in the second quarter with Matthew Broe hitting over a brace of points before firing a brilliant goal.
Caidean McFaddenn added to the goal rush with his side's third goal before Jamie O'Reilly also found the net.
The Longford side did finish the half with a flourish and scored 1-1 in first-half stoppage to stay in the game, just 1-2 to 4-5 adrift at the break.
With the wind at their backs for the second period Ardscoil Phadraig resumed impressively and created chance after chance before bagging their second goal.
Unable to win possession Colaiste na Mi were penned in, but they did manage to break on a couple of occasions with O'Reilly and James Lusk stemming the flow with a couple of points and Darragh Farrelly, Alex Rogan and Darragh McConnell defending superbly.
The Grandard school did manage to get in for another couple of goals to close the gap to four points, but Colaiste na Mi dug in and held on to claim their historic victory.
Colaiste na Mi - Jake Storey; Darragh McConnell, Darragh Farrelly, Ryan McMullan; Matthew Broe, Cormac Maguire, Alex Rogan; Alex Quigley, Kyle Connolly; James Lusk, Jamie O'Reilly, Jake Wade; Aaron O'Donoghue, Andrew Morrissey, Caiden McFadden.