St. Gerald’s College claim First Year Boys Cup
FAI Schools First Year Boys National Cup Final (Under 14, Large Schools)
Friday, May 24, 2024
St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar 2-1 Willow Park Senior School, Blackrock (AET)
Matthew Daly (36), Ruairi Molloy (72) Jamie Blake (52)
ST. GERALD’S COLLEGE, CASTLEBAR defeated debutants Willow Park Senior School from Blackrock in extra-time to claim the FAI Schools First Year Boys National Cup in Athlone Town AFC yesterday afternoon (Thursday, May 23).
It was a brilliant showcase with two excellent sides doing battle and it took added time for Castlebar to get the better of their Blackrock opponents with a wonder goal to secure the title.
Despite the action being end to end in the first thirty minutes, the game was goalless at the break with Willow Park’s Ben Walls the busier of the two keepers.
Matthew DALY finally opened the scoring six minutes into the re-start to give St. Gerald’s the lead. A mistake in the Blackrock defence saw Daly steal the ball inside the box and drill an audacious shot under the diving Ben Walls.
Blackrock were impressive going forward as Paddy Mullaney, Sam Cruz, Thomas Kilty and Ronan McDonagh linked up well at times. But St. Gerald’s had Blackrock talisman’s Arya Golchin well marshalled throughout proceedings.
Peter Quinlan used his bench effectively as Blake and Horne were introduced and the deadly duo linked up well for the elusive equaliser eight minutes from time. Jamie BLAKE latched onto an excellent through ball from Archie Horne for the latter to finish superbly and bring the game to extra-time.
Ben Walls pulled off some exceptional saves early in the first period of added time when he denied Keating, Mulroy, Reilly and Moran in quick succession with Jack Fitzgerald on the line to clear the danger for the Leinster Champions.
The match winner came two minutes into the second period of extra-time as a well worked manoeuvre saw St. Gerald’s convert in fine fashion. Eddie Moran snatched the ball on the right flank and played it into the path of Ruairi Molloy who pushed it forward to Cillian Keating. A quick one-two, saw MULROY claim the pass again and he slotted it past the impressive Ben Walls for a worthy match winner.
As Cup Champions, St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar will have the opportunity to represent the Republic of Ireland at the SAFIB Allen McKinstry Cup next season. The school will play the Cup Champions from Northern Ireland, Wales and England in a three day tournament.
Last season’s Cup winners St. Francis College, Rochestown are currently in action in Cardiff at the Home Nations tournament.
No doubt David Joyce’s side would relish an chance to play some strong opposition from further afield.
ST. GERALD’S COLLEGE, CASTLEBAR | Shane Rodgers, Finn Ruane, Patrick Kennedy, Tom Francis, Conor Moran, Ethan Kelly, Ruairí Mulroy, Cillian Reilly ©, Matthew Daly, Cillian Keating, Noah Kirby
SUBS ROLL ON / OFF | Keelyn McHale, Oscar Radzio, Eddie Moran, Ronan Quinn, Ethan Maloney, Ruairí Kearney, Aaron Murphy
EXTENDED SQUAD | Cian Byrne, Cillian Donnelly, Drew Hegarty, Kajetan Wsniewski, Marc Duffy, Nikolas Murphy, Paddy McGuinness, Unathi Phakathi
TEACHERS | David Joyce, Tom Byrne, James Robinson
WILLOW PARK SENIOR SCHOOL, BLACKROCK | Ben Walls, Niall Farren, Paddy Mullaney, Tom Murphy, Sam Cruz ©, Matthew Gormley, Julian Browne, Thomas Kilty, Ben Woods, Ronan McDonagh, Arya Goilchin
SUBS ROLL ON / OFF | Archie Horne, Jack Fitzgerald, Daniel Brennan, Jamie Blake, Kevin Flemming, Harry Garvey
EXTENDED SQUAD | Ross Leahy, Seb Keane, Eamonn McGuinn, Brian Doorly, Saul Coughlan, Sam Booth, Sean Tunney, Eoin O’Hara
TEACHERS | Peter Quinlan, Simon Naughton, Rob Kenny
MATCH OFFICIAL | Paul Tone (Athlone)
