Final quarter blitz seals knockout spot for Dunboyne students in Leinster Schools SFC

St Peter's College 2-2-11 (21)

St Mel's College 0-2-13 (17)

Marginally second best for 45 minutes, St Peter’s College Dunboyne finally clicked into gear in the final quarter of their Leinster Schools SFC in Pearse Park Longford last Thursday afternoon and that was all they needed to pick up a win over St Mel’s College.

Victory was enough to secure top spot in the group and a home preliminary quarter-final against Marist College of Athlone on the first week of December.

Historically St Mel’s are the dominant side in this competition, but they shipped 10 goals in their last outing and were out of the running.

St Peter’s needed a positive result to avoid an away trip to Naas CBS (comprehensive winners of the Leinster Schools JFC two years ago) and it was clear from the start that it wouldn’t come easy against a wounded Longford side.

Harry O’Connor and Eoghan McDonald were hugely impressive at midfield while Harry Clarke Murphy and Andrew Norman drove forward from the half-back line very well, with the latter opening the scoring point, but St Peter’s struggled to create separation at the top end of the pitch and coughed up more turnovers than they would have liked.

St Peter’s high press and their willingness to chase and tackle was hugely impressive but Mel’s looked a lot more cohesive in attack, and after a tight and low scoring opening quarter, a two-pointer from Senan Buckley set them on the road to an 0-11 to 0-6 half-time lead.

The home side swarmed around Seán Delaney at every opportunity, knowing the threat posed by the freescoring centre forward, and St Peter’s struggled to exploit that concentration of resources, while at the other end, James Flynn flashed one shot wide of the post when going for goal and Seán Doyle also had to be very sharp and strong to deflect a close range Seán O’Boyle effort over the bar.

A brilliantly finished goal from Darragh Harkin in the first minute of the second half should have been a shot in the arm for Ronan O’Connell’s side, but instead Mel’s rallied with three in a row in response to cancel out the damage.

Eoghan McDonald had a huge second half for St Peter’s and he landed a superb two-pointer, though again, Mel’s responded well and still led by 0-15 to 1-8 going into the final quarter.

Harkin earned a free that Delaney converted in the 47th minute, but it was a Harry O’Connor point from the right wing that was the spark that ignited the Dunboyne school’s strong finish.

Andrew Norman made a fine catch to pull down the subsequent kickout, Shea Mooney delayed and weighted his pass into Harkin perfectly, and with the aid of a slight but crucial deflection, the transition year corner forward found the net to give St Peter’s an unlikely lead.

McDonald added two more with Delaney (two-pointer) and Mooney also on the mark in the closing minutes, wrapping up top spot in the group and rematch with Marist College, who edged out a younger St Peter’s team last year on their run to the Leinster final.

St Peter’s College Dunboyne (St Peter’s Dunboyne unless stated): Seán Doyle; Shay Coone, Cillian Murphy, Josh Mahon; Harry Clarke Murphy, Paul Magee, Andrew Norman (0-1); Eoghan McDonald (0-4 one two-pointer), Thomas Brandsma; Ignas Tukaciaskas (Kilbride), Seán Delaney (0-7 one two-pointer, three frees, Harry O’Connor (Kilbride 0-1); Darragh Harkin (2-0), Shea Mooney (0-2), Jack Gallagher. Subs: Seán Flynn Doherty for Mahon 35m, Caelan O’Dowd for Gallagher 53m, Calum Gray for Tukaciaskas 54m.

St Mel’s: Emmanuel Gospic; Cody Corcoran, Sam Elliot, Patrick Reynolds; Michael Gacquin (0-1), Adam McCormack, Ruairí Gibbons (0-1); James Flynn, Seán O’Boyle (0-1); Senan Buckley (0-5 one two-pointer, one two-point free), Dylan O’Neill, Seán Hagan; Conor Shannon (0-3), Oisín McHugh, Darragh Connolly (0-6 four frees). Subs: Ryan Murphy for Corcoran 53m, Ruairí Flynn for O’Neill 56m, Obed Bonsu for Gibbons, Eoin Farrell for Reynolds both 59m.

Referee: Mark Glancy (Longford).