Prolific Scariff deny St Flannan’s the double

POST-PRIMARY SCHOOLS UNDER 15 B HURLING FINAL
SCARIFF COMMUNITY COLLEGE 2-14 ST.FLANNAN’S COLLEGE (2) 0-3

In what was an awful night for hurling with freezing temperatures, incessant rain and a swirling wind Scariffs Paul Rodgers lit up Caherlohan with a scintillating display. Deployed as a sweeper in the first period and let loose in the second half Rodgers was simply immense throughout this schools final. Aided by the hugely impressive Jake Gibbons at centre forward and the industrious Michael Vaughan at midfield Scariff Community College were a class above their opponents on the night. It must be said though that Flannan’s were depleted with injuries beforehand and then unfortunately suffered a double blow of losing talented corner forward Rory Keogh and midfielder Dylan Nugent to what seemed like hamstring issues early in the opening period.
In truth though the writing was on the wall early for the Ennis School’s second team as playing with the aid of the elements in the opening period they could never really threaten the Scariff rearguard. The opposite can be said of Scariff though as with almost every attack they looked like scoring and Flannan’s can be thankful to corner back Andrew Clancy and full back Harry O’Donoghue who both put in tremendous defensive shifts.
The game’s opening goal came in the 12th minute when Gibbons superbly overturned possession on the 21 yard line before arrowing a bullet into the top right hand corner of the net. Rodgers in a sweeping role was magnificent carrying possession into the strong wind time and time again which had the double effect of relieving pressure while also killing the clock, which was vital so strong were the elements. Gibbons and Rodgers accounted for 1-2 each in the opening thirty although Rodgers green flag did have a slice of luck to it when his attempted point effort dipped in under the crossbar deceiving the unfortunate Conor Lynch in goal. At half time Scariff Community College led by eight points on a 2-4 to 0-2 scoreline.
With the wind at their backs the second half was pretty much one way traffic but patrons were treated to three outrageous points. Firstly full forward Jack Minogue gathered the sliotar with a superb first touch before firing over his shoulder splitting the posts. Then corner back Liam Tuohy picked up possession out on the left touchline a full fifty yards from goal. Tuohy embarked on a solo before slotting over on the run from the sideline, a score of immense beauty. Not to be outdone player of the match Rodgers then landed a monster point from a full seventy yards out in the 51st minute before the game petered out to it’s inevitable conclusion.
Afterwards Peter Casey presented the cup to the most deserving winners of this years Post Primary Schools B final Scariff Community College.

Scariff Community College: Jack Punch,Cian Gavin,Sean Maher,Liam Tuohy,Adam McNamara,Cormac Gunning,Leo BogenBurger,Michael Vaughan,Sean Reilly,Matthew Ryan,Jake Gibbons,Luke Madden,Danny Ryan,Jack Minogue,Paul Rodgers
Subs: Donnacha McKenna for L Madden(44),James Foley for D Ryan(52),MJ Buckley for S Reilly(57),Ronan Murray for P Rodgers(57),Cathal Madden for M Ryan(58)

Scorers: Paul Rodgers 1-6(4f),Jake Gibbons 1-3,Jack Minogue 0-2,Sean Reilly,Liam Tuohy,Matthew Ryan 0-1 apiece

St.Flannan’s College: Conor Lynch,Aodàn Ò Lachtnàin,Harry O’Donoghue,Andrew Clancy,Sean Corry,Mark Kennedy,Aidan O’Connell,Dylan Nugent,Riain O’Donnell,TJ Moore,Padraig Healy,Gavin Fitzgerald,Rory Keogh,Fionn Daffy,Odhran Murphy
Subs: Malachy O’Halloran for D Nugent inj(20),Luke Fitzgerald for R Keogh inj(20),Donnach O’Donovan for G Fitzgerald(42),Cian McCallister for A O’Connell inj(45)

Scorers: Padraig Healy 0-2(1f),Fionn Daffy 0-1

Referee: Jim Hickey