Heartache for Garbally boys in replay

Sligo Grammar 10

Garbally College  9

ALMOST unfathomable. Almost. Sligo Grammar’s tenth Schools Cup title triumph in last Thursday’s replay was about as difficult to make sense of as any in the competition’s history. In second half injury time, the men from the north west entered the Garbally 22 for the very first time in the game. A minute later, they drove over for their try and Matthew Cosgrove kicked the winning conversion.

A stunning act of defiance, a moment of triumph against adversity, a lesson in not giving up, in hanging on in there when for all the world all hope seems lost. Sligo were second best in each and every department, but that mattered not a jot as the wild celebrations began on full time. They had found a way to win and that’s all that any sporting challenge requires of an athlete, that’s why it is just about fathomable. Just about.

There’s no doubt that Garbally College players would love to find a way to just erase this game from the memory, but that isn’t possible and even if it was, it would be foolish. They’ll carry this with them for the rest of their careers and the lessons garnered could well prove more valuable on and off the sporting field than any victory would have been.

When Karl Collins blew the final whistle on Thursday, he brought an end to an epic two game tale of twists and turns. Sligo Grammar had held the upper hand in the first game – they should have won it such was their territorial dominance, but they never pushed on and drove home their advantage and Garbally just didn’t give up, scoring late through Simon Keller to force this replay.

Early on in the second game, it was clear that the supremely talented Keller was determined to grasp the lifeline he had been given (or had given to the team) in the drawn final. He pulled the strings, pinged the corners, controlled every aspect of the play in the early stages. Grammar were just constantly on the backfoot and their influential centre Matthew Cosgrove, was unable to get into the game.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune