Claregalway College suffer Connacht Championship defeat to St Gerald's

Maigh Cuilinn senior football coach Kieran Murphy, alongside Galway footballers Paul Conroy and Seán Mulkerrin, were in charge of the Galway school, while former Mayo footballer Michael Conroy and current Mayo player Diarmuid O’Connor were involved with the St Gerald’s management team.

Claregalway College's starting XV featured twelve players from Claregalway, two from Annaghdown and one from Corofin. Their defence included Dylan Rabbitte and Iarla Kenny, who both featured in Claregalway's U19 North Board final defeat to Corofin, alongside Galway minor footballer Ciarán Collins.

Galway U20 captain Seán Moran captained the side from midfield, while the team also included Cathal Heavey, who featured in Annaghdown’s run to the Galway Senior Football Championship semi-finals. David McLaughlin was another notable inclusion, having scored three goals in Galway’s 5-0 victory over Mayo in the Connacht Oscar Traynor Cup semi-final last week.

Ruairí O’Flaherty opened the scoring with a close-range free after two minutes, but St Gerald’s responded immediately, transitioning quickly down the field before Conor Hoban finished past Claregalway goalkeeper Conor Reynolds to register the opening goal.

Cathal Heavey replied with a two-pointer on eight minutes to bring the sides level at 1-0 to 0-3. Ryan McNamara restored the hosts’ advantage before Heavey and Matthew Conroy combined to bring Claregalway back on level terms at 1-1 to 0-4 after 19 minutes.

McNamara and Kevin Filan responded with consecutive points to put the reigning Connacht champions back in front. St Gerald’s were proving more clinical in front of goal during the opening period, while Claregalway struggled to make the most of their opportunities, converting just eight of their seventeen scoring chances in the first half.

However, the Galway school finished the opening period strongly, with Conroy, Heavey and Cian Meehan landing three unanswered points to establish a narrow 0-8 to 1-3 advantage at the interval. Despite holding the lead, Claregalway were left to rue several missed opportunities that could have given them a more comfortable cushion at the break.

With the aid of the breeze, St Gerald’s made a bright start to the second half as Eoghan Jennings and Hoban landed consecutive two-pointers to swing the momentum back in favour of the Castlebar school.

Claregalway refused to let their opponents pull away, however, with Conroy proving a constant threat in attack. His influence helped the visitors draw level at 0-11 to 1-8 after 38 minutes as the contest continued to ebb and flow.

Jennings and McNamara restored the hosts’ advantage, but two further frees from O’Flaherty brought the sides level for the fifth time.

Hoban then struck his second two-pointer of the afternoon to give St Gerald’s some breathing space, but Claregalway continued to respond whenever the Mayo school threatened to take control.

Conor Fox drove forward to finish an excellent move for the visitors before Conroy brought the sides level once again on 57 minutes. At 0-15 to 1-12, a draw appeared a distinct possibility, with little separating the teams heading into the closing stages.

However, the contest turned dramatically in St Gerald’s favour when Ben Joyce’s effort, which initially appeared destined to sail over the crossbar, dropped beneath it and over the head of Reynolds and into the net.

There was an element of fortune about the goal, but it provided the Castlebar school with a major lift at a crucial stage and Claregalway struggled to recover from the setback.

Hoban and Jennings continued to cause problems for the visitors as St Gerald’s took complete control in the closing minutes, punishing a Claregalway side that had remained within touching distance for much of the afternoon.

The hosts then put the result beyond doubt when a quick passing move involving McNamara ended with the Ballintubber player receiving the ball back before calmly finishing his shot to the net.

Claregalway will aim to bounce back against Leitrim Combined Schools in round two of the Connacht Championship. Conor Fox, Seán Moran, Cathal Heavey and Matthew Conroy were among their standout performers.

Conor Hoban was outstanding for the winners, finishing with 2-6. He was also part of the Ballintubber side that defeated Micheál Breathnach in the Connacht minor final. Ben Joyce also impressed and will be in action for Castlebar Mitchels this weekend in their Connacht SFC semi-final against Fulham Irish.

CLAREGALWAY COLLEGE: Conor Reynolds (Claregalway); Joshua Clarke (Corofin), Iarla Kenny (Claregalway), Dylan Rabbitte (Claregalway); Jude Trench Kearney, Conor Fox (0-1, Claregalway), Ciaran Collins (Claregalway); Sean Moran (Captain, Claregalway), Micheal Walsh (Claregalway), Tomas Higgins, Ruairi Flaherty (0-3, 0-1 f) Claregalway), Cathal Heavey ((0-3, tp) Annaghdown); Cian Meehan (0-1, Claregalway), David McLaughlin (Claregalway), Matthew Conroy (0-7, 0-4 f Claregalway). SUBS: Tom McAdam (Claregalway) for Walsh (48), Michael Bradbury (St James) for Meehan (48), Eoin Lardner (Annaghdown) for Flaherty (62), Tom Naughton (Annaghdown) for Conroy (62)

ST GERALD’S COLLEGE: Ryan Kilkelly; Matthew Kelly, Eoghan Murray, Jack McNicholas; Tadgh Kearney, Darragh Connor, Eoghan Jennings (0-4); Aiden Dempsey, Jack Diffly; Ben Joyce (1-0), Adam Burton, Odhran Donnelly; Ryan McNamara (0-5, 0-3f), Conor Hoban (2-6, 2tp), Daniel Filan (0-1).

REFEREE: Shane Corcoran (Mayo)