Date Published: 13-Apr-2011

St Colman’s, Newry 2-10

St Jarlath’s, Tuam 0-15

CIARAN TIERNEY

AT CROKE PARK

A SPIRITED fight-back from a seemingly desperate position fell just short for a gallant St Jarlath’s College side who left Croke Park with that despised ‘gallant losers’ tag after succumbing to reigning All-Ireland champions St Colman’s of Newry by just one point in a thrilling Hogan Cup final on Saturday.

No two ways about it, the Tuam boys could – and probably should – have won their 13th senior title in the splendid sunshine. How they lost it will haunt these promising youngsters for the rest of this school year as they had outplayed the Ulster boys for much of this decider.

Ultimately, the concession of two goals inside the first 12 minutes cost St Jarlath’s. Even though they staged a rousing recovery, St Colman’s had enough gas in the tank to kick four points in a row in the crucial closing stages after looking distinctly second best for much of the game.

Small, but crucial, things went against St Jarlath’s throughout this final. A promising attack, which should have led to their opening score, was broken up by St Colman’s goalkeeper Matthew McNiece and within seconds corner forward Jack Haughey scored what could only be described as a freakish opening goal.

The second goal, in which full-forward Jerome Johnston took quite a few steps, had the look of a killer blow and, crucially, St Jarlath’s never found the net themselves even though team captain Ian Burke hit the crossbar in the 14th minute. Had Burke’s pile-driver gone in, they might have drawn level a lot sooner than the 35th minute.

The collarbone injury to inspirational full-forward Adrian Varley, whose switch to the middle of the park was a master-stroke, was a massive blow at a key stage of the game as the Cortoon Shamrocks man seemed to be on his way to a Man of the Match performance.

And referee Maurice Deegan did the Tuam school no favours when he played less than three minutes of injury time at the end of the second period, when another two to three minutes looked to be on the cards in the wake of a number of lengthy stoppages.

Sour grapes perhaps, but St Jarlath’s were desperately unlucky to lose this thrilling battle and the eight boys who are eligible for the 2012 campaign can only benefit from the awful pain they felt in the wake of this defeat.

That they were so desperately disappointed at the finish was all the more laudable given the terrible start they endured, as St Jarlath’s found themselves 2-1 to 0-1 down despite playing with the backing of the wind after just 12 minutes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.