Penalty shootout agony for Mary's in schools decider

St Mary’s College 0Summerhill College 0AET - Summerhill win 5-4 on penalties

Keith Kelly atTerryland Park

ST Mary’s College relinquished their provincial and national FAI Senior Cup school crowns in heartbreaking fashion in Terryland Park on Wednesday night when they were beaten on penalties by Summerhill College Sligo in the Connacht decider.

Neither side could find the breakthrough during normal time nor 20 minutes of extra time, so the game came down to the lottery of penalty kicks, and it was the underdogs who held the winning ticket, converting all five of their spot kicks to lift the trophy after Mary’s vice-captain Barry McEntee saw his kick saved by Vinnie Cadden.

It was a cruel blow for a Mary’s side that were marginally the better outfit on the night, but it also must be said that it was Summerhill who had carved out the better chances during the game, and only for the heroics of goalkeeper Conor Gleeson, Mary’s would not have made it to extra time, never mind a 12-yard shootout.

The city school received a boost before kick-off when both injury doubts, McEntee and Tony Ward, were passed fit to play, with the latter passing a fitness test just before kick-off, and it was Mary’s who started the brighter.

Most of the Summerhill players had sat ‘mock’ exams on the morning of the game before travelling down to Galway for the game, which gave Mary’s an edge in preparations, and they were on the front foot from the first whistle.

They dominated both in terms of territory and possession in the first half, but Summerhill slowly grew into the challenge, and began to pose more of a threat in attack, especially after the introduction of substitute Andrew Patton, who evaded the Mary’s defence on a couple of occasions only to be denied by some brilliant saves by Gleeson.

It was Mary’s who had the first chance of the game when the ball fell for Evan Browne in the box in the 12th minute after Paul Logan failed to fully clear Rory Lavelle’s cross, but Browne couldn’t adjust his feet in time and side-footed wide from 12 yards.

The League of Ireland experience of the Mary’s central midfield pairing of McEntee (Mervue United) and Shane Keogh (Galway United) saw them dictate the pace of the game, with McEntee providing the drive and Keogh picking out some sublime passes with his left foot, and the pair combined to almost carve out the opening in the 19th minute.

Keogh found Kevin Connolly with a sublime ball, whose shot was deflected away from danger by Conor McDonagh. Ward collected and delivered the ball back into the box, and Niall Murphy’s attempted clearance cannoned back off McEntee towards the goal but Vinnie Cadden blocked with a reflex save, and McEntee just failed to connect with the rebound.

Mary’s didn’t just attack through the middle, as they were also getting some joy out wide, with full-backs Aengus O Curraoin and in particular Shane Gallagher constantly overlapping along the wings, but the Summerhill defence held firm.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.