Heartbreak for The Bish in FAI U-17 Tom Ticher Cup final

St Francis Rochestown 3

The concession of three set-piece goals proved to be the downfall for St Joseph's College in Wednesday's FAI Schools Tom Ticher (U-17) Cup final in Limerick.

One down at the break, the Galway school were thrown a lifeline just a minute after the restart when a Tom Devlin finish levelled matters, but they hardly had time to bask in the glory of it all, before the Cork side had regained the lead at the other end. They were to quickly add a third and thereafter it was a continuous uphill battle for Colin Kelly's charges.

To their credit they made changes and with a greater degree of intensity from earlier threw everything at the Munster outfit. A Finn Healy header was a late consolation, as otherwise, St Francis goalkeeper Daniel Mooney was the dominant personality in the penalty area.

Now both sides had early header opportunities as Devlin could not get enough power into a Jamie Corcoran cross to really threaten, while at the other end Darragh Lynch headed over from close range. The breakthrough arrived on 17 minutes when a Darragh O'Flaherty free kick from half way was flicked on by Lynch and the inrushing Cillian McAuliffe applied the finish at the far post.

Now while the build up play from both sides was impressive, there was more of a cutting edge about the Rochestown outfit and only a smart save by Finian O'Connell denied Rhys Looney adding a second. The Bish offered a threat as Shane Rather, Devin Burke and Shane Fahy tried to give them some forward momentum and twice Burke went close to a breakthrough as matters ended at 1-0 at the break.

The resumption was less than a minute old when St Joseph's struck for the equaliser when Cayden Harty crossed from the left and Tom Devlin applied the close range finish to tie up matters at 1-1. The advantage was short lived as a St Francis free kick from halfway saw Rhys Looney left all alone in the six yard box to tap in after the defensive unit failed to clear the dropping ball. On 50 minutes, it became 3-1 when an O'Flaherty corner was nodded to the net by Max Meade.

From there to the finish the chase was on from a Bish point of view, but in reality chances were hard to find. Goalkeeper Mooney tipped over a long-range Fahy free-kick and punched away numerous crosses and set pieces thereafter. A late reward saw Devlin cross from the right and substitute Healy had the simple task of heading into an empty net to leave matters closing at 3-2.

St Joseph's College: O'Connell (Murphy 61), Killilea, Oliver, Hoban, Nolan, Fahy, Corcoran (Healy 56), Rather (McCartan 54), Devlin, Burke (Quirke 54), Harty.

St Francis College Rochestown: Mooney, Senga, Ross, Cronin, D O'Flaherty, Young (Tynan 76), T O'Flaherty (Hanna 66), McAuliffe, Meade, Looney, Lynch.

Referee: Ian O'Gorman (Limerick).