St: Mary’s College, Galway 4/1 Marist College, Athlone
ST: Mary’s College, Galway proved beyond doubt that they are kingpins in senior schools soccer in Connacht on Tuesday night when they captured their fifth FAI Connacht Senior Schools Cup title in 10 years by overcoming a game, but limited, Marist Athlone side in Terryland Park:
The city school went into the game as hot favourites, and had already hammered their opponents 5/0 in the group stages of the competition, but whether it was nerves, or a case of underestimating the Midlands side, they struggled early on to stamp their authority on the final:
Once they found their groove, however, they looked a class above their opponents, and three goals in the space of 13 minutes early in the second half put an end to the Marist fairytale, and they now meet Coláiste Mhuire of Cobh in the national semi/final in Limerick next week:
The game was just four minutes old when St Mary’s carved out the first chance of the game, Shane Maughan showing the Marist defence a clean pair of heels to race through on goal, but his powerful shot smashed off the crossbar with Marist ‘keeper Eoin Carberry beaten:
Robert Benson created the first opening of the game for the visitors, rolling a free/kick to Niall Boland, but the winger’s 25/yard effort fizzed wide of the near post in the 18th minute: James Casserly was inches away from getting on the end of Shane Keogh’s free at the other end nine minutes later, while Glynn went on a lung/bursting run down the left in the 33rd minute before squaring to Fiach O’Barra on the edge of the box, but his rasping shot flew the wrong side of the post:
Mary’s thought they had taken the lead nine minutes before the break when O’Barra tapped home after Carberry spilled Keogh’s shot, but the strike was ruled out by an offside flag: Ward’s pace was causing the visitors plenty of problems, and he capitalised on a slip by Cian McCormack to get on the end of Ronan Burke’s booming kick/out to have a clear run on goal, but Carberry brilliantly smothered his hesitant effort:
The game was played in a tough but fair manner, with no players from either side complaining about tackles, but referee Pat Barry took a different view, and harshly booked Barry McEntee for a foul in the 38th minute when a ticking/off would have sufficed:
Barry also booked Glynn on the stroke of half/time – again, a foul was committed, but the punishment seemed a little harsh, and unfortunately for the youngster, the booking would come back to haunt him when he was shown a second yellow, followed by red, in the second half:
Marist were first to threaten in the second half, but Burke gathered Alan Coffey’s shot in the 47th minute and then pulled off a great double save, parrying Benson’s blistering 30 yard free before diving bravely at the feet of Coffey in the 52nd minute, and within seconds Mary’s had gone down the other end and opened the scoring:::: www:galwaynews:ie