Tulla reach Corn Phádraig final

ST Joseph’s, Tulla defeated PS na Tráonáide, Youghal in the Munster Colleges (Corn Phádraig) Senior B Hurling Championship semi-final on Saturday at Sean Treacy Park, Tipperary.

In the final, they will play either Dungarvan CBS or Rochestown College from Cork, who meet in the other semi-final this Saturday in Fermoy.

The Tulla school, which draws its players from Tulla, Feakle, Crusheen, O’Callaghan’s Mills and Broadford, led from the start and their win is all the more impressive because they played three-quarters of the game with 14 players.

Leading by 0-3 to 0-2, 13 minutes into the game, the East Clare school was dealt a huge blow when their centre-forward, Diarmuid Moloney, was sent off.

Already without the injured Darren Chaplin (Broadford) and Clooney-Quin’s Sean Shanahan, Tulla faced a real threat.

Their response was impressive as two minutes after the sending off, the Clare school’s captain, Oisín Donnellan, struck for the game’s opening goal and they went on to lead by five points at half-time, when the score was 3-5 to 1-6. Their other goal scorers in the first half were Mark Lynch and John O’Brien.

Youghal were given a great boost just before half-time when they got through for a goal and went on to hold the winners scoreless throughout the third quarter, by which time the winners’ lead was down to a goal.

With just seven minutes remaining, the margin was just the minimum. Colin Corbett then converted a free but the Cork pupils were pressing hard in search of a goal, which would give them the lead.

Three minutes from time, with a goal separating the sides, Dan Vaughan in the Tulla goal produced an excellent save. Tulla then launched a counter-attack and following an excellent run by Stephen Conway, they sealed victory when John O’Brien struck for an excellent goal, his second of the afternoon.

Overall, this was a great team victory with all sectors contributing greatly to the win.

St Joseph’s: Dan Vaughan (Tulla); Mark Perrill (Crusheen), James Noonan (Feakle), Evan McMahon (Feakle); Eoin Tuohy (Feakle), Niall Bolton (Tulla), Ciarán Cooney (O’Callaghan’s Mills); Oisín Donnellan (Feakle, captain), Con Smyth (Feakle); David Kearney (Crusheen), Diarmuid Moloney (Broadford), Mark Lynch (Tulla); Stephen Conway (Feakle), Colin Corbett (Tulla), John O’Brien (O’Callaghan’s Mills).
Sub: Cathal Lenihan (O’Callaghan’s Mills) for Kearney (50 mins).
Scorers: John O’Brien (2-0), Mark Lynch (1-2), Oisín Donnellan (1-0), Colin Corbett (0-4f), Stephen Conway (0-2) and Eoin Tuohy (0-1).