DEFENDING champions Leinster had to produce three top performances to earn their third consecutive FAI Schools Senior Boys Interprovincial title at Athlone IT last weekend:
The tournament, which ran from Friday to Sunday, saw the best players from each of the four provinces face off for the honours and the chance to impress schools international manager Hugh Colhoun:
A provisional panel of 20 will be selected to play New Zealand in late January before a final squad of 16 is selected for the Carnegie Centenary Shield campaign, which commences on March 17 against their counterparts from Northern Ireland, so their was plenty up for grabs for each player on show:
Under manager Paddy O'Reilly Leinster had captured the two previous titles heading into the first big event of the season on the school soccer calendar and they were made to work to reclaim their crown this time around:
The opening day of action saw the holders capitalise on a 1-1 draw between Munster and Connacht by seeing off northern rivals Ulster by a single goal:
Salesian College's Tomás Boyle and Michael Gleeson of Chanel College went close for Paddy O'Reilly's side before Ulster goalkeeper Mark McGinty pulled off saves to deny Seán Skelly of St Joseph's and Jack Tim Murphy from St Peter's College:
It was Pobailscoil Neasain man Eoin Fowler who eventually grabbed the points for Leinster when he found space in the box to fire home a cross from Arklow Community College's Adam Hanlon in the final stages of the contest:
O'Reilly's side made sure they built on their winning momentum almost immediately and a 2-0 win over Munster in the first of day two's games put them well on their way to regaining their title:
Sean Skelly was the player to follow up his impressive showing the previous evening and score both of Leinster's goals, his second coming from the penalty spot, to move his side within a point of the title before Ulster and Connacht could even play their second fixture:
A second/half Billy Lane header gave the Westerners their first win of the tournament later on Saturday and set up a titanic final/day bout with the holders for the 2009 crown:
Ulster beat Munster in the early kick/off on Sunday morning before Leinster took to the field in search of the positive result that would deny Connacht and make it an incredible three/in/a/row:
Despite Brian Lacey's Connacht side enjoying the better of large parts of the clash, Leinster held out for a scoreless draw and secured the crucial point they needed to be crowned champions once again:
It could have been very different had Robert Gaul from Coláiste Choilm in Swords not produced a heroic goal/line clearance in the final minutes: